Macau Singles World Cup entered the semi-finals today, and all 4 games were broadcast live on CCTV5+ channel. National table tennis vs. Zhang Ben brother and sister + 2 civil wars, 18:00 Wang Manyu vs. Zhang Benzhihe, 18:50 Wang Chuqin vs. Ma Long, 19:40 Sun Yingsha vs. Chen Meng, 20:30 Lin Gaoyuan vs. Zhang Benzhihe.
The pressure on Wang Manyu is undoubtedly huge. Zhang Benmei and Zhang Benmei have been through all the way. The more they play, the better and the momentum is building. Wang Manyu cannot afford to lose. If she loses, her Olympic points will be deducted by 3,000 points, which will directly affect her Olympic singles. Qualification, so she had no choice but to fight to the end this time, believing that Wang Manyu would fulfill his mission.
In the other group of women's singles semi-finals, Chen Meng has not won a singles championship for a long time. She is in very good condition this World Cup, and at the age of 30, her mentality has matured. No points will be deducted for losing to Sun Yingsha, so Maybe he can perform well without pressure. And Sun Yingsha has always been a big-hearted player who is focused on the game. This game is destined to be exciting.
The same goes for Wang Chuqin and Ma Long. No matter who wins the game, the National Table Tennis Team has already reserved a spot in the finals. Lin Gaoyuan's matchup against Tomokazu Harimoto is a lot to watch. In the final of the 2022 Budapest Championship, it was Zhang Benzhihe who reversed Lin Gaoyuan when he was 0-3 behind, so that Lin Gaoyuan's mentality collapsed at the critical moment in the subsequent games. The label of an expert in the civil war and an outsider in the foreign war has been worn on Lin Gaoyuan's head for too long.
This time Lin Gaoyuan defeated Fan Zhendong to reach the semi-finals. Fan Zhendong couldn't beat Lin Gaoyuan, where did he lose? After the game, Fan Zhendong said in an interview that he performed normally, but served too much and made too many unnecessary mistakes in the first three boards. In fact, Fan Zhendong had a hard time reversing Lin Shidong, and he lost in both the Singapore Grand Slam and the Incheon Championship. With the Paris Olympics approaching, I hope he can find his form quickly.
In addition, Lin Gaoyuan was playing with his national table tennis teammates. He was very relaxed and stress-free, and his backhand was superb. Fan Zhendong also saw that his backhand was in good condition, and he used methods such as short swings on the table, but he could not control it. Fan Zhendong didn't play to his own advantages. He didn't take advantage of the first three boards, and he couldn't play the strong stalemate that he was good at. Fighting for speed with Lin Gaoyuan, but without adding rotation, Lin Gaoyuan resisted.
The turning point of the game came in the fifth game. Fan Zhendong led by a small score of 8-1, but was overtaken by Lin Gaoyuan with 8 points. In the end, Lin Gaoyuan achieved a single-game reversal. The task of dismantling the motorcycle in the semi-finals was Lin Gaoyuan's. I hope the tragedy of the 2022 Budapest Championship final will not happen again. This is a good opportunity to take off the hat of "experts in civil wars and amateurs in foreign wars".