NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- China's Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha, and Lin Shidong and Kuai Man, won their respective mixed doubles semifinals Friday at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games to set up an all-Chinese final.
Earlier in the mixed doubles quarterfinals, Wang and Sun beat Japan's Sora Harimoto and Miwa Harimoto 3-0 in a closely contested match. The Chinese pair narrowly won the first two games 12-10 and 13-11 before taking the third 11-8.
"I think the two sides are pretty evenly matched, they are both among the best players in the world. So I think we just have to go out there and fight for every point," Sun said. "Our tactics and overall performance on court today were pretty good."
Later that evening, Wang and Sun cruised past India's Manush Shah and Diya Chitale 4-0 in the semifinals. In the other semifinal, Lin and Kuai beat South Korea's Lim Jong-hoon and Shin Yu-bin 4-2.
In the men's singles, Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan, who had just led his team to its first Asian Games men's team title in 60 years on Thursday night, defeated Mohammed Ahussein of Qatar 4-0 to reach the last 16.
World No. 1 Wang Chuqin of China beat 16-year-old Thai teenager Thitaphat Preechayan 4-2, while Wang's teammate Lin Shidong advanced with a 4-0 victory over Mak Tin Lan of Macao, China.
In the women's singles, China's Sun Yingsha swept Maryam Ali of Qatar 4-0, while Wang Manyu also beat another Qatari player, Aia Mohamed, 4-0 to reach the last 16. Japan's Miwa Harimoto and Hina Hayata also advanced.
In the women's doubles, China's Kuai Man/Wang Manyu and Fan Shuhan/Chen Yi both advanced to the quarterfinals. Japan's Miwa Harimoto/Hina Hayata also reached the last eight after a 3-0 victory over Chen Szu-yu/Wu Ying-syuan of Chinese Taipei.
In the men's doubles, Tomokazu Harimoto and Hiroto Shinozuka of Japan advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3-0 win over Hsu Hsien-chia/Hung Jing-kai of Chinese Taipei. China's Huang Youzheng/Lin Shidong and Wen Ruibo/Xiang Peng also reached the last eight.
The mixed doubles final is scheduled for Saturday. ■
