2LT National News

Sun Yingsha dominated in singles and, alongside Wang Chuqin, mounted a comeback to win their mixed doubles match, while fellow Chinese players advanced strongly in both singles and doubles at the WTT China Smash.

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) — Reigning world champion Sun Yingsha celebrated two victories here on Tuesday, breezing past fellow Chinese Zhu Sibing 3-0 at lunchtime before partnering Wang Chuqin to open their mixed doubles campaign with a 3-1 win at the WTT China Smash.

The 24-year-old women’s singles top seed only let her chopping opponent earn 10 points in three 11-point games, but her pairing with Wang was tested in the evening’s mixed doubles round of 16 after the duo received a first-round bye as the sixth seeds.

Sun and Wang, who have three world titles under their names, had to launch a comeback from one set down before triumphing 11-13, 11-4, 11-5, 11-7 over Australian Aditya Sareen and India’s Yashaswini Ghorpade in their first match as a pair since the Doha worlds in May.

“We haven’t played for a long time on the international stage after the 2025 World Championships,” Sun said after the match.

“In the first game, we didn’t feel quite familiar with the match. However, we then made adjustments and found our rhythm. After this match, our familiarity will become better for the upcoming matches.”

Wang agreed, stating that “the level of our familiarity with the game is not as good as it was before. However, our abilities have improved so far, and match after match, we will deliver better results.”

The home stars will next play a quarterfinal against compatriots Chen Yuanyu and Kuai Man, who stunned top seeds Lim Jong-hoon and Shin Yu-bin of South Korea in full games.

Meanwhile, wildcard pairings Huang Youzheng/Chen Yi and Yuan Licen/Wang Yidi storm into the mixed doubles quarterfinals after emphatic 3-0 and 3-1 victories, respectively, over fifth seeds Manush Shah/Diya Chitale of India and third seeds Wong Chun Ting/Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong, China. Xue Fei and Qian Tianyi lost 3-1 to Brazilian duo Hugo Calderano and Bruna Takahashi.

Chinese Taipei sensation Lin Yun-ju came out as the surprising casualty in the men’s singles draw following fourth seed Tomokazu Harimoto’s early exit on Monday evening, falling 3-2 to another Japanese Yukiya Uda.

Local favorites Lin Shidong, Xiang Peng and wildcard player Zhou Qihao all claimed victory on Tuesday, with qualifier Yuan Licen surrendering 3-0 to established Swede Kristian Karlsson.

All five Chinese pairs have secured second-round places in men’s doubles, after Yuan Licen and Xu Yingbin beat Australia’s Bae Hwan and Horacio Cifuentes of Argentina in straight sets on Tuesday.

The women’s doubles event saw Zong Geman and Qin Yuxuan ease into the round of 16 with a 3-0 victory over Australian Jiamuwa Wu and Constantina Psihogios, while the hosts’ other wildcard pairing Wang Xiaotong and Xu Yi rallied past Ayhika and Sutirtha Mukherjee in five sets.