BEIJING, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's Sun Yingsha advanced to the women's singles second round with a 3-1 victory over Chinese Taipei's Yeh Yi-Tian, while men's third seed Tomokazu Harimoto rallied from two games down to beat Denmark's Jonathan Groth 3-2 at the 2026 WTT China Smash on Monday.
Playing her first match since the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, Sun took the opening game 11-5 before going neck-and-neck with the 18-year-old in a tightly contested second, which Yeh won 12-10 to level the match.
After requesting a TTR early in the third game that overturned a service fault for hiding the ball, Sun took control and won the next two games 11-6, 11-6 to reach the last 32.
"From the Asian Games to the WTT China Smash, everyone needs some time for adjustment, on energy reservation and fitness recovery. For me, focusing on each point would make me excited. I'll go all out in every match," Sun said.
Fourth seed Kuai Man, who won three gold medals at the Asian Games, swept Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong, China 11-6, 11-9, 11-6.
"As it was my first match here, I didn't adjust to the venue quite well at the beginning. We didn't have many rallies during the match, so it was more about making some changes on the first three strokes," Kuai commented.
China's Zhu Sibing, who began her campaign in the qualifying rounds, upset 13th seed Joo Cheon-hui of South Korea 3-1.
In her second encounter with Joo, Zhu lost the opening game 11-8 before winning 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 to secure her place in the last 32.
"As her world ranking is higher than mine, I just tried to fight for every point and give full play to my level," Zhu said.
Another Chinese qualifier, 15-year-old Liu Ziling, continued her run with a 3-0 victory over Ukraine's Margaryta Pesotska.
"Regardless of the opponents' rankings and style, I need to keep patient, analyze and prepare one match at a time. Whether on or off the court, I need to stay composed without thinking too much about other factors and play at my best," said Liu, who is ranked 317th in the world.
Chen Xingtong beat fellow Chinese player Xu Yi 3-0 to advance to the women's last 32.
"Actually I didn't care too much about the score, whether it was 3-0 or 3-2. I just went point by point," Chen said. "As it was my first match here, it was more about adjusting to the venue and improving on what I didn't do well today."
Also on Monday, China's Zong Geman edged Egyptian teenager Hana Goda in a five-game battle.
In the men's singles, China's Liang Jingkun sailed past Russia's Vladimir Sidorenko 3-0, Xu Yingbin triumphed 3-1 in an all-Chinese clash with Chen Junsong, Zhou Qihao beat Singaporean wild card Izaac Quek 3-2, and Xiang Peng defeated France's Thibault Poret 3-1.
World No. 42 Groth started strongly against Harimoto, winning the opening two games 11-9, 11-7, but the Japanese player took the next two 11-2, 11-9 to force a decider.
Harimoto trailed 9-6 in the fifth game before winning five consecutive points to complete the comeback.
Fourth-seeded Truls Moregard also survived a stern test as the Swede won the deciding game 20-18 against Chan Baldwin of Hong Kong, China.
"It was a one-of-a-kind match for sure, but to be honest, I thought I was playing good," Moregard said. "At 17-17 I was doing amazing, and he killed it straight. So my expectations were just to try my best, see if I could manage to win somehow, and I managed it in the end."
Playing together for the first time, China's Wang Yidi and Jiang Yiyi advanced to the women's doubles last 16 with a 3-0 win over Germany's Shan Xiaona and Singapore's Zeng Jian. ■
