Japan's star paddler Fukuhara enters Olympic semis for first time (updated with quotes)

Japanese star paddler Ai Fukuhara claimed her best result so far in an Olympic Games after the women's singles sixth seed upset Singapore's No. 2 seed Feng Tianwei 4-0 here on Tuesday to make through into the semifinal of Rio 2016.

The 27-year-old "veteran", who got her name known by the world more than a decade ago, pushed Feng to 12-all in the first set on an 11-point format before she scored two points in a row to wrap it up 14-12 and never looked back.

"This must be the best game from Ai out of so many matches she played against me in the past decade," commented Feng, a 29-year-old Harbin native born in Northeast China.

"She just played fantastically and some of her reactions on court went beyond my imagination," Feng continued. "And I was not patient enough. I'll pay extra attention to that and prepare more thoroughly for the team event."

Fukuhara, on the other side, reckoned her secret of winning was to have devoted her mind to her own game.

"My coach told me before the quarterfinals to focus on my own game, rather than to think too much on irrelevant things," she said. "Also we've been well prepared for the game and better carried it out."

With the straight-set victory, Fukuhara kept her nation's hope for a women's singles medal alive in table tennis after Japan's top female paddler Kasumi Ishikawa crashed out in her opening match against DPR Korea's defender Kim Song I in Sunday's third round.

Fukuhara's best result in her previous three Olympic Games was to have reached the quarterfinals in London 2012 after twice exits from the fourth round.

"Olympic Games is every athlete's dream, something really special, and anything is possible on Olympic field," she said.

"Normally I could win once in 20 encounters against Feng Tianwei since she's just so good a player. But the atmosphere of playing in an Olympic Games match motivated me and I just gave all out after Ishikawa ousted," added Fukuhara.

She will play the sport's Grand Slam winner and defending champion Li Xiaoxia of China in her last 4 encounter on Wednesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, the 28-year-old Li proved herself too strong for Chinese Taipei's seventh seed Cheng I-Ching in another quarterfinal clash, ousting the world No. 10 4-0 without breaking a sweat.

"It's not as easy as it seemed to be," said Li after trouncing Cheng 11-5, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6. "She's a tough opponent and I'd prepared to face a long and harsh resistance of six or even seven sets."

"I think the result is just a logical reward to my hard work and that of my whole team," added Li, who could announce her retirement from international table tennis after the Rio Olympics.

Cheng, however, burst into tears after the defeat, saying that she's so tired after Monday's schedule of two matches in a day, which was the same for Li. "I could not fall asleep last night," claimed Cheng in a post-match mixed zone. Endit