MACAO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- World No. 1 Wang Chuqin battled past 19-year-old French star Felix Lebrun 4-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the ITTF Men's and Women's World Cup in Macao on Friday, becoming China's only male player left in the competition.
Wang dropped a tense opening game despite leading 9-6 and 10-9, as world No. 6 Lebrun fought back to edge it 13-11. The Chinese left-hander again found himself in trouble in the second, trailing 2-7, but turned the game around with a series of aggressive rallies to win at 11-9.
Lebrun regained the initiative in the third, moving ahead 6-2 and withstanding Wang's late surge from 4-9 to 9-10 before closing it out 11-9 for a 2-1 lead. From there, Wang raised his level, dominating the fourth 11-5 after pulling away from 6-3, and taking control of the fifth from 6-6 to seal it 11-6 for a 3-2 advantage.
The sixth game delivered the fiercest drama of the night. Wang raced to a 7-3 lead and later moved 10-8 ahead, but Lebrun saved multiple match points and dragged the score to 13-13. Under heavy pressure and with no margin for error as China's last remaining man, Wang held firm, finally closing out the game 15-13 to complete a hard-fought 4-2 victory.
"For this match in particular, I think my resilience was much better than before," Wang said. "Today, in a very tough situation, I kept chasing point by point, telling myself that winning just one point would give me a bit of a chance, constantly sending myself that positive signal. In the end, I managed to hold on and rediscovered some good feelings."
Looking ahead to his quarterfinal, Wang added, "I think this match definitely helps. Facing such a strong opponent like Felix and being able to play a match like this against him will help improve my mentality. I think I can find a better rhythm to face the next opponent."
Wang will meet Slovenia's Darko Jorgic in the quarterfinal as the latter upset Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov 4-1 (11-8, 11-5, 11-8, 10-12, 11-9) on Friday.
Earlier in the day, China's Wen Ruibo failed to make the last eight after being defeated by Chinese Taipei's Lin Yun-Ju. Lin won the game 11-7, 11-5, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7.
"My overall performance was very good today, and I was also aware that my opponent has been in very good form recently," Lin said. "I just tried to fight, and that helped me start a lot of games well."
In the women's draw, China's Chen Xingtong outlasted Puerto Rico's Adriana Diaz 4-2 (11-7, 11-6, 12-14, 11-13, 12-10, 13-11).
"It was very hard to win this match. My opponent actually had many chances to beat me," Chen said. "I just tried to play point by point. Even when I was behind at times, I kept fighting."
Elsewhere, South Korea's Shin Yu-bin swept Germany's Han Ying 4-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-7, 14-12), while Egypt's Hana Goda edged France's Yuan Jianan 4-3 in a thriller (9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 14-16, 8-11, 11-8, 13-11). Japan's Honoka Hashimoto beat Brazil's Bruna Takahashi 4-1 (11-6, 11-4, 11-3, 10-12, 11-4).
In the quarterfinal on Saturday, China's star paddler Sun Yingsha will face Hana Goda, while Wang Manyu will encounter Honoka Hashimoto. ■
