MACAO, China, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese paddlers Kuai Man and Wang Yidi suffered shock exits in the women's singles round of 32 at the WTT Macau Champions here on Wednesday.
World No. 4 Kuai lost 3-2 to Germany's Han Ying in their first international meeting. After taking the opener 11-6, the 22-year-old Chinese dropped the next two games 8-11 and 3-11. Kuai saved match point to take the fourth 12-10, but Han led throughout the decider and closed it out 11-6 to eliminate the No. 2 seed.
"Overall I played well in this match. My performance improved from the second game onward; I didn't adapt to the rhythm in the first game. I have no burdens; the Chinese team players are young and full of energy, so I treated it as practice. Going into the second game I thought that playing it safe would still lose, so I decided to go all out," said the 43-year-old Han.
Wednesday had already seen a number of high-profile exits. World No. 5 Wang Yidi was beaten 11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7 by world No. 35 Dina Meshref of Egypt, while world No. 9 Sabine Winter of Germany was upset 11-9, 11-9, 11-13, 11-1 by Romania's Bernadette Szocs, ranked world No. 24.
"It definitely means so much to me, this victory, winning against the Chinese again in, like, two or three months. It's something I never imagined that would happen. I'm very, very happy with it. I'm so grateful." said Meshref, who beat then-world No. 14 Shi Xunyao at US Smash 2026 in July.
China's youngster Huang Youzheng also failed to reach the men's round of 16 after losing 11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 9-11, 11-6 to Kanak Jha of the United States.
In other matches, Sweden's Truls Moregard completed a comeback against Germany's Patrick Franziska 5-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-9 to reach the men's round of 16, while Japan's Sora Matsushima advanced comfortably after beating England's Tom Jarvis in straight games 11-4, 12-10, 11-7.
Thursday will see China's Chen Xingtong face Germany's Nina Mittelham, while Zhou Qihao takes on Germany's Qiu Dang. ■
