China News Service, Beijing, March 12th: The 2024 World Table Tennis Professional League (WTT) Singapore Grand Slam suffered an upset on the 12th.
Chinese player Fan Zhendong, the top seed in men's singles and ranked No. 1 in the world, lost to his teammate Lin Shidong 1:3 and missed the advancement.
Men's singles third seed and Chinese star Ma Long lost to German player Francesca 2:3 and also stopped in the second round.
18-year-old Lin Shidong is a rookie in the Chinese team.
In this game, Lin Shidong showed excellent form at the beginning, winning the first two games with a large score difference.
Facing the young player's high-quality backhand attack, Fan Zhendong worked hard to open up the situation with his forehand, and won the key points in the third game to regain the victory.
Lin Shidong, who had a clear offensive idea in the fourth game, won another game and finally secured the victory with 3:1.
After being eliminated in singles, Fan Zhendong lost the chance to defend the men's singles championship.
Next, he will partner with Wang Chuqin in the men's doubles and face the Hong Kong combination of Lin Siu-hang/He Junjie on the 13th.
Chinese star Ma Long is another men's singles seeded player who was unexpectedly eliminated.
During the game, German player Francesca fought more actively, winning two consecutive games with a total score of 1:2, and defeated Malone 3:2.
In addition to the men's singles fourth seed Lin Gaoyuan who was eliminated yesterday, three of the top five men's singles seeds in this competition have been eliminated.
China's main mixed doubles pair Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha made their debut in the tournament today, defeating the French "old and new" pair Yuan Jianan/Alix Lebrun 3:0.
All other Chinese players successfully advanced.
In women's singles, Wang Manyu defeated German player Shan Xiaona 3:1 and Chen Meng swept South Korea's Tian Zhixi 3:0.
In men's singles, Liang Jingkun defeated German player Duda 3:0.
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