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(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
The first top seed has fallen, as World No. 2 Wang Manyu fell in the second round of women’s singles at the United States Smash, the WTT Smash Series tour event being held at the Ontario Convention Center in Los Angeles. The hero of the day is Hitomi Sato, a Japanese modern defender with world rank of 21 that managed a 3-0 win over Wang Manyu. The match was closer than the final score, with Sato winning the first game 12-10, logging an easy second game win 11-4, and then outlasting Many 15-13 to complete the upset win.
Lily Zhang was outsted in the second round 0-3, falling to Ying Han of Germany. The American had an impressive first round win over Jia Nan Yuan, but never really got going today – losing 11-3, 11-8, and 11-2. Other Women who won their matches today include Hina Hayata, Miwa Harimoto, and Shin Yubin.
In Men’s Singles, Wang Chuqin had a quick 3-0 win over Manav Thakkar to advance to the Final 16. Dang Qiu defeated Dimitrij Ovtcharov 3-1 as two of the five Germans to reach the Round of 32 had to face each other. Sora Matsushima continued his strong showing – winning his second match in a row (over Omar Assar and Kirill Gerassimenko) 3-0. Both Lebrun brothers won today – Felix topped Won Chun Ting 3-1 and Alexis defeated Simon Gauzy 3-2. The brothers could potentially face each other in the Quarters – though Darko Jorgic and Lin Shidong will plan to keep that from happening.
Lots of quality table tennis on tap all week long – we’ll have more updates soon.
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