MACAO - Denmark's Anders Lind fought a tough seven-game battle against defending champion Lin Shidong of China on Saturday, winning 4-3 to reach the semifinals at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Champions Macao 2025.
"The scores were so close all the way through the match, and it was a mental warfare almost," said Lind, noting that the next match he would be "relaxed, as calm as I can be, and do my best every single point".
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In the semifinals, he will face Brazil's Hugo Calderano, who defeated Germany's Patrick Franziska 4-2 in the evening's match.
Wang Chuqin came out the sole survivor of the all-time leading China team in the men's singles, sealing a 4-0 victory over Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei, despite encountering some minor challenges in the second and third games. Wang said that Lin's style of play "is very advanced," and he just tried to make his serving and receiving as sharp as possible.
The women's singles, however, told a different story with China paddlers securing all four semifinal spots. Sun Yingsha eliminated Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico 4-1 to set up a clash with teammate Kuai Man, who earlier overcame Japan's Satsuki Odo 4-1, while Wang Manyu, a 4-0 winner over Zhu Yuling of Macao, China, will meet compatriot Chen Xingtong after the latter eliminated Germany's Han Ying 4-1.
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"Diaz is a player with a lot of variation," Sun said after her quarterfinal. "What I did better today was reminding myself to stay calm and patient at all time, whether I was leading or trailing."