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Chinese pairs all make last four at ITTF World Tour China Open

Xinhua, September 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

Chinese table tennis pairs, including hosts favorite Ma Long and Zhang Jike, all advanced into semifinals of the ITTF World Tour China Open with their respective wins here on Friday.

Ma and Zhang, both men's Grand Slam winners, pleased the home crowds as they beat Kim Donghyun and Kim Minseok of South Korea 11-5, 7-11, 11-3, 11-6. They will face Japanese duo Koki Niwa and Yuya Oshima.

After suffering severe waist injury last year, Zhang proved himself again in last month's Rio Olympic Games, winning the silver medal in singles and helping China win its third consecutive title in the team event since 2008.

"Now my body condition is OK. I feel that I can play matches as many as possible," he said.

Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin recorded a more comfortable win as Tiago Apolonia of Portugal and Andrej Gacina of Croatia, their opponents in the quarterfinals, withdrew from the match. The Chinese duo will fight for the other final spot with Ho Kwan Kit and Wong Chun Ting of Hong Kong, China.

In women's doubles quarterfinals, Olympians Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen eased past Hsiung Nai-I and Huang Yi-Hua of Chinese Taipei 11-7, 11-3 and 11-9 in just 20 minutes.

"I didn't take systematic training after the Rio Olympics, and it's been a while for me away from the table. The atmosphere here made me excited," said Ding, who became the fifth women's Grand Slam winner after winning gold medal of the singles in Rio.

Ding and Liu's opponents in the semifinals will be Cheng Hsien-Tzu and Chen Szu-Yu of Chinese Taipei. Ding added that she still needs some more matches to tune up for herself.

The other semifinal will feature hosts players Chen Meng and Zhu Yuling, and Lee Yearam and Kim Haeun of South Korea. Chen and Zhu came back from one game down to eliminate Japanese duo Yui Hamamoto and Hina Hayata 8-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-2.

"The first match is always difficult. We failed to control the rhythm in the first game, before we made some adjustments and got the victory," commented Chen. Endit