by Simon Daish

Facing the second seeded player Wang Manyu in the last eight Zhu Yuling, seventh seed, technically entered the tie as the supposed underdog but in reality the odds were in the latter player’s favour.

Seven games were required to find a winner and in the end it was the Women’s World Cup holder Zhu Yuling who earned the victory, closing out the match with a fine display in the decider (11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-2) to eliminate Wang Manyu from the competition.

Chen Xingtong continues to enjoy her debut outing on the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals stage, claiming a superb five games victory over Japanese star Mima Ito (11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-6).

The result means that China has guaranteed the gold medal win a day early with all four of the semi-finalists representing the nation, but now the question is which player will lift the trophy?

Will it be Chen Xingtong? She opposes Zhu Yuling in the last four and is delighted to have reached the latter stages of the tournament.

“I was well prepared for the match so it was just about putting my tactics into practice on court. It’s my first World Tour Grand Finals so I’m happy to be able to make it so far. Next I will be facing my teammate in the semi-finals and I will do my best in the match.” Chen Xingtong.

The semi-finals of the Women’s Singles draw commences on the evening of Saturday 16th December at 18.00pm (local time).