WASHINGTON, July 10 (Xinhua) -- China’s top-ranked players, Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin, both advanced to the men’s singles quarterfinals at the WTT US Smash in Las Vegas on Thursday, while their top female counterparts suffered early exits.
Wang, the newly crowned world singles champion, cruised past South Korea’s Lee Sang-su 11-4, 11-5, 11-5. Lin, meanwhile, overcame a mid-match stumble to defeat 14th seed An Jaehyun, also of South Korea, 11-6, 6-11, 11-9, 11-1.
"I kicked into gear faster than my opponent," said Wang. "I had expected a tough match and had a deep talk with head coach Wang Hao about how to deal with a super aggressive player like Lee."
Wang will next face eighth-seeded Darko Jorgic of Slovenia, who earlier swept Germany’s 12th seed Qiu Dang in four sets.
Earlier in the day, the tournament produced major upsets as China’s top two women’s singles seeds, Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu, were knocked out.
Sun, the reigning world champion and world No. 1 for nearly three years, lost 3-1 to compatriot Chen Yi. Wang followed with a four-set defeat to Zhu Yuling of Macao, China.
Chen, 20, played with patience and capitalized on her opportunities with clinical precision. She even called a tactical timeout with match point in hand before closing out her 11-9, 7-11, 11-5, 11-9 win.
"I didn’t expect to beat Sister Sha," said Chen. "I just pulled off my best game, and I am very delighted now.
"Against the world No. 1 player, I didn’t have a special strategy. I regarded myself as an underdog, a challenger, and tried to fight for every point. I played pretty well at clutch moments."
Zhu Yuling, 30, previously stepped away from China’s national team to recover from cancer, pursue her studies, and later become a professor at Tianjin University. She joined the Macao team last year.
"This is my 38th game since I came out of retirement," said Zhu following her 11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5 victory over world No. 2 Wang.
"I didn’t start well," said the former World Cup champion. "But I kept reminding myself of hanging in here despite difficulties. I turned the tables midway in both the first two sets."
Zhu will face South Korea’s 10th seed Shin Yu-bin in the quarterfinals.
Despite their singles losses, Sun and Wang regrouped in the women’s doubles, beating Shin Yu-bin and Hong Kong, China’s Doo Hoi Kem 3-1 to secure a place in the semifinals.
原文地址：http://en.people.cn/n3/2025/0711/c90000-20339200.html