China secures women's singles title at WTT Champions Chongqing

CHONGQING, China, March 15 (Xinhua) -- China has secured the women's singles title after its top four paddlers clinched semifinal spots at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Champions Chongqing on Saturday.

In the tournament's penultimate day of action, world No. 1 Sun Yingsha was made to sweat in her grueling 3-1 victory over Japan's eighth-ranked Satsuki Odo.

20-year-old Odo, last year's winner in Montpellier on her WTT Champions debut, silenced the home crowd by triumphing 11-6 in the opening game.

The next two games saw game points change hands several times, while Sun displayed her resilience by taking both games with the same scoreline of 14-12. Then she took command in the fourth game, winning 11-7 to seal the deal.

"It was our encounter [in WTT events]. My preparations and analysis on the opponent gave me some understanding of her game, but it would be different when I actually played against her," commented Sun.

"I lost the first game and she once took the game point in the second. If I had lost that game again, I would have been down 0-2. This win will serve as a confidence booster for my semifinal tomorrow, and I will enjoy the match first and put on an excellent match for everyone," she added.

Sun's semifinal opponent will be third seed Wang Yidi, who dispatched Japan's Hina Hayata 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 12-10.

The other semifinal pits world No. 2 Wang Manyu against fourth-ranked Chen Xingtong. Wang swept past Miwa Harimoto of Japan in straight games, while Chen also eliminated her compatriot Kuai Man 3-0.

Men's singles top seed Lin Shidong of China had to endure a five-game battle before knocking out Lin Yun-ju of Chinese Taipei 6-11, 11-3, 7-11, 11-3, 11-7.

"We have encountered several times recently, and we are quite familiar with each other. Facing his tactical changes this time, I managed to go through," Lin Shidong remarked.

Lin's next opponent will be his teammate Liang Jingkun, who emerged victorious in another full-game duel against Frenchman Felix Lebrun 8-11, 11-9, 12-10, 3-11, 11-5.

China's second-seeded Wang Chuqin outplayed Truls Moregard of Sweden 3-0, and will contend for a final spot with Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto.

The WTT Champions Chongqing will conclude on Sunday. ■