China Smash Semis: World No. 1, 2, 7 and 9

(By Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)

Felix Lebrun is so high in the ranking in the past, so it is a modest level of surprise to see him as World No. 7 that reaches the last four of China Smash this week in Beijing. The more shocking surprise is World No. 9, Xiang Peng who spent most of the 2023 and 2024 years in the No. 20s, unable to break through – but who came to the top 10 for the first time and now announces that he is planning to stay.

Both Peng and Lebrun benefited from disturbances – offering a simpler than expected path to the semi -final than is normal for their seeds. For Xiang Peng he did not have to face Benedikt Duda (who was upset in the first round by Feng Yi-Hsin)-but he certainly earned his position in the semi-final with a 4-3 victory over Hugo Calderano today. The Calderano/Peng match was uncomfortable and filled with stripes. None of the games felt close at the end, with momentum shifts from game to game – but alternating dominance. Calderano won the first game at 3, Peng won the next two on 3 and 7, Calderano then won at 6 and 8 to take the lead. And then Peng raised his game to another level and won the last two games that disappeared with 11-7 and 11-6. Peng is now in on Wang Chuqin, who easily won his quarter-final match of Sora Matsushima at 4-1.

Felix Lebrun entered the tournament as the seventh seed and stood up to face Tomokazu Harimoto, but because of the great game of Chen Junsong (who made up Harimoto early), Lebrun was confronted with World No. 113 instead of World No. 4. Far and should be well rested on Sunday. So far, Shidong has only lost two games in his four games – clearly an eye on the world ranking of the world that could wait for him if he could win this tournament. The semi -final and finals are set for Sunday.

The surprise on the women’s side was Shin Yubin of the Korean Republic who reached the top 4 from her position as World No. 17. Just like the underdogs on the men’s side, she took advantage of a previous upset of Mima Ito who made her path easier, but he 3-2 victory at World No. 4 Kuai Man was the upset of the tournament. In the semi-final, Yubin fell 4-1 for Veeuu Wang. In the other half of the draw, Sun Yingsha Chen Xingtong 4-2 gave to reach the final. Many and Yingsha will be confronted on Sunday, just as the top two in the world have done many times in the past.

The title of the men’s subbels went to Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin – because the best two players in the world worked together to only lose 1 match in the four games they played. Kuai Man and Wang Manyu won women’s doubles. Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha won mixed doubles, giving Chuqin a few trophies and a chance to win a third in singles on Sunday.

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