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Chinese Wang Liqin Makes Semis in US Open/ITTF Pro Tour
Wang Liqin defeated Kim Taek Soo of South Korea by full sets to prevent a drought for China in the men's singles semifinals at the US Open/ITTF Pro Tour Friday evening.
The Chinese paddler lost the first and third sets before clawing back the last two for a hard-nut victory, deadly cheered by the Chinese men's team after top-ranked Kong Linghui suffered an upset against Chiang Peng-Lung of Chinese Taipei.
Wang Liqin defeated Kim 19-21, 21-14, 17-21, 21-14 and 21-15, to face Fredrik Hakansson of Sweden in the semifinals as the latter outpowered Japanese chopper Koji Matsushita 19-21, 21-18, 21-9, 15-21 and 21-12.
The other two quarterfinals witnessed the defeats of top two favorites of Kong Linghui and Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus. Kong Linghui was defeated by Chiang 21-11, 15-21, 21-11 and 21- 18, while Samsonov was ousted by Werner Schlager of Austria 18-21, 21-23, 21-17, 21-15 and 22-20.
"The men's competitions are full of suspensions as anyone can be the winner," said Cai Zhenhua, head coach of the Chinese team. "Kong lost the match because he was still tired of fatigue due to the 27-hour flight days ago and Chiang had even outplayed himself to the most."
"Anyway, a loss in a tournament will not be perceived as a bad thing as it will push ourselves to devote more efforts to improve our skills and techniques prior to the Olympics," said the Chinese coach.
"Still, we're glad that Wang made the semifinals and we will hope for the most and prepare for the worst," he said.
Early in the morning, Kong Linghui won the all-Chinese affair against Yan Sen and Wang Liqin of China sailed further by beating Johnny Huang of the United States.
The semifinals and finals are slated for Saturday, with Wang playing Hakansson and Chiang facing Schlager.
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