MACAO, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Top Chinese players Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha claimed victory in the round of 16 matches at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Champions Macao 2022 here on Friday.
Surprisingly, world No. 3 Liang Jingkun and Olympic champion Chen Meng were taken out by opponents, failing to win tickets to the quarterfinals on Saturday.
In a stressful five-game encounter, world No. 2 Ma Long held off European champion Qiu Dang 11-4, 11-8, 6-11, 9-11, 11-7, surviving a real nail-biter.
World champion Fan came through a tricky contest to defeat American paddler Kanak Jha 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-8. Jha held an 8-6 lead in game four but proved unable to force a decider.
"I was quite well prepared for the match. I had anticipated the result and Kanak's performances. I still need to be more patient and calm while competing in order to better know and confront my opponent," Fan said after the match.
Despite a less-than-ideal start for Sun, the Chinese top seed eventually claimed three games to eliminate Monaco's Yang Xiaoxin 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-4.
"I was prepared to fight a hard match today," Sun said. "I didn't reach a comfortable state at the beginning of the match and Xiaoxin played really hard."
Surprisingly, French teenage player Alexis Lebrun defeated world No. 3 Liang Jingkun in a five-game thriller, while Romanian woman paddler Bernadette Szocs toppled Chen Meng in a 3-2 tangle.
Wang Chuqin, Darko Jorgic, Lin Yun-ju, Truls Moregard and Mattias Falck will also compete in the men's quarterfinals on Saturday.
On the women's side, Chen Xingtong, Wang Yidi, Cheng I-Ching, Kasumi Ishikawa, Yuan Jia Nan, and Mima Ito also made the last eight. ■
