China's Fan Zhendong beats Moregard at WTT Championships

FRANKFURT-AM-MAIN, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- World No. 1 Fan Zhendong of China advanced to the last 16 of men's singles at the 2023 Table Tennis WTT Frankfurt Championships, posting a 3-1 victory over Sweden's Truls Moregard on Sunday.

The two had previously met in the 2021 World Championships final, with Fan overwhelming Moregard 4-0. Their electrifying match at Suwag Energy Arena in Frankfurt was a display of free-flowing attacking table tennis from start to finish.

Meeting for the third time, Fan, who held a superior record having won both previous encounters, ended Sunday's clash with scores of 12-10, 11-13, 12-10, 11-7.

"It's a tough match as always. The scores were very close in every game like what we did before. He pushed me so hard, and I made some mistakes during the second game. Fortunately, I was trying to overcome the difficulties, and it worked. I made some technical adjustments and kept a good mentality," said Fan.

Fan's compatriot, Liang Jingkun, also advanced to the round of 16, defeating 20-year-old French talent Alexis Lebrun. Liang recovered from a first-game loss to beat the 2023 European Games bronze winner 3-1 (8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10).

Meanwhile, world No. 2 Wang Chuqin defeated Kao Cheng Jui from Chinese Taipei with a straight-set win of 11-6, 11-7, 11-5.

"Kao is a very passionate player and has made a lot of progress recently. Last time we played, I did not know about him so much and was through ups-and-downs. I'm well-prepared this time and remained calm when he made some excellent attacks. I just need to do what I normally did," said the 23-year-old Wang.

In the women's draw, Chen Meng swept past Suthasini Sawettabut of Thailand 11-4, 11-4, 11-5.

"I have not played against Suthasini for a long time. I was doing a good job today and took control of the match from the very beginning. I think I'm in pretty good shape now and will play better in the coming round," said Chen.

The Frankfurt event continues on Monday when the women's singles world No. 1 Sun Yingsha faces Jeon Jihee from South Korea, and Wang Manyu matches up against three-time Olympian Elizabeta Samara from Romania.