Ma Long of China competes during the men's singles round of 16 match against Zhou Qihao of China at the 2023 World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender Ljubljana in Ljubljana, Slovenia on July 7, 2023. (Photo by Danilo Kesic/Xinhua)
LJUBLJANA, July 7 (Xinhua) -- China's Olympic champion Ma Long suffered a shocking exit to 13th seed Zhou Qihao on Friday in the men's singles round of 16 at WTT Star Contender Ljubljana.
Looking forward to his first men's singles title since winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics, Ma opened his campaign with a crushing 3-0 win over Danish player Anders Lind on Thursday.
However, the "Dragon" was denied by the world No. 24 Zhou who delivered a fantastic play in their first-ever international clash. Zhou celebrates the huge win over his iconic compatriot 4-11, 11-6, 2-11, 11-5, 11-8.
Ma started the match brightly, dictating the pace of play with his clinical attack to race into an early lead. Despite dropping the second game, there was little to suggest an upset could be on the cards as Ma immediately restored his advantage with a commanding win in the third game.
Needing one more game to complete the job, Ma looked well on course to book himself a ticket to the quarterfinals. But the tide soon began to turn as Zhou played a more aggressive, higher-risk game, and the shift in approach started to pay off as he successfully forced the match into a decider.
The margins began to tighten in an all-or-nothing final game as both players fought right down to the wire. Zhou launched a ferocious backhand down the line at 10-8 to clinch a magnificent victory. Through to the quarterfinals, Zhou moves on to face Felix Lebrun.
"Both of us want to make a good start to keep lead in each game," said 26-year-old Zhou. "When I led the score in the decider, Ma call a time-out to level the points. I was thinking I need to call a time-out as well to take the final chance to win."
Zhou believed Ma was not playing with one hundred percent power like before.
"He might be a bit tired, perhaps he did not have time to rest after the doubles game," said Zhou. "I can see that Ma was trying to motivate himself and he was eager to win, but he could not grab the chances at some crucial moment."
Zhou told Xinhua that he had played against Ma during the training sessions and that sometimes he could win the trial contest.
"I'm very surprised to take the win today because it's not easy to defeat a legend," said Zhou. "I was not burdened in mentality, just tried to make troubles for him and fought with good quality." ■
Zhou Qihao of China competes during the men's singles round of 16 match against Ma Long of China at the 2023 World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender Ljubljana in Ljubljana, Slovenia on July 7, 2023. (Photo by Danilo Kesic/Xinhua)
Zhou Qihao of China competes during the men's singles round of 16 match against Ma Long of China at the 2023 World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender Ljubljana in Ljubljana, Slovenia on July 7, 2023. (Photo by Danilo Kesic/Xinhua)
