The result of the final match was clear for a few minutes when Fan Zhendong played with a comfortable lead deep into the fifth game, already leading 3-1 and just in time to win the 2025 Chinese National Games in Macau. When the final point was over (11-4), the celebration was muted as both players shook hands and the fans cheered. Fan Zhendong let his guard down for a moment, with a slight smile growing as he showed one finger and then two fingers – eventually flashing a full grin as he posed for the cameras before returning to his corner. The gestures reflected what everyone was thinking: what a huge achievement for Zhendong to beat the world number 1 and then the world number 2 in consecutive days and capture one of the biggest titles in the table tennis world in front of a packed house of fans who used to be his.
Fan’s professional career included being ranked No. 1 in the world, winning the World Championships, winning the World Cup and his last major title before leaving the tour: the 2024 Olympic singles title. Since then, he has fallen out with the ITTF and WTT and was replaced in the Chinese national team. But he has continued to play for Shanghai in the Chinese Super League and started this season with Saarbrücken in the German league. He has clearly remained sharp with the support of those teams (even though he had to progress without the support of the Chinese national team).
Lin Shidong started quickly and at one point led 9-4. But Zhendong ran off seven points in a row to win the first game. Shidong then fought through a tight second match, extending his lead at the end and leveling the score. From then on it was all Fan Zhendong – a dominant explosion of placement, power and consistency that won every facet of the game. Zhendong won the straight rallies with both players fighting forehand against forehand or backhand against backhand. Zhendong forced more errors on his serve. Zhendong controlled the pace and was able to move Lin Shidong left and right. The scores of the last three matches were not close – 11-5, 11-3, 11-4. Fan Zhendong puts on a clinic, dominates the world number 1 and world number 2 and finds himself on the podium of the China National Games, an unranked player above the top two ranked players in the world.
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