China's table tennis Olympic champion Ma Long dominated Omar Assar of Egypt 3-0, while his compatriot Wang Manyu avenged her previous defeat against Yuan Jianan
Ma Long of China hits a return during the men's singles round of 16 match against Omar Assar of Egypt at the WTT Champions Frankfurt 2023 in Frankfurt, Germany, Nov. 2, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)
Ma took a step further toward the men's singles title on the WTT Series following an authoritative round of 16 display against Assar. Ma had never lost any international contest against the Egyptian and continued his perfect record in the match-up in straight games 11-6, 11-7, 12-10.
"Omar had played in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics and the Durban World Championships, so I did not expect to take a straight-game win today. I was doing pretty well in the first two games before overcoming more difficulties in the third," said the 35-year-old Chinese veteran.
Ma will match up against Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the quarters. The two have previously clashed at the Tokyo Olympics semifinals where the Chinese "Dragon" narrowly defeated the German top player 4-3.
Looking forward to the upcoming match against Ovtcharov, Ma said, "Every time we played, I could feel Dimitrij's strong desire to win. I'm expecting an extremely tough match this time on his home court."
Women's singles third seed Wang Manyu faced Yuan Jianan in a rematch of their showdown at last year's WTT Champions Macao. Yuan had taken the spotlight on that occasion, besting Wang 3-2 in Macao.
Wang experienced challenges during the first game of Thursday's match, earning only one point in reception and losing the momentum of the rallies. It wasn't until the fourth game that Wang finally gained control in the tie, surging to 7-1. Putting last year's upsetting defeat behind her, Wang expressed a huge sigh of relief with a 6-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-5 win.
Indian player Manika Batra's progress was halted in the round of 16 as China's Wang Yidi claimed victory in the opening contest of the day 16-14, 11-8, 11-7.
Batra showed resilience in the first game, holding game point opportunities at 11-12 and 13-14. But Wang stood resolute, saving both points at the decisive moment.
"Despite the 3-0 victory, one of the games was quite tight, and the scores were very close. My opponent fought fiercely towards the end of the match, but I remained firm in my shots for crucial points. I had the clearer understanding of the opponent's spin on the ball compared to the last time when we met at the Hangzhou Asian Games," said Wang.
