Ding leads Chinese armada into next round
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail Shanghai Daily, May 16, 2013
Top seed and defending champion Ding Ning of China breezed past Dederko Zhenhua of Australia 4-0 to reach the second round at the world championships in Paris yesterday.
|
|
|
Ding eases past first round. |
Ding, also silver medalist at last year's London Olympic Games, beat the 220th-ranked Dederko 11-6, 11-2, 11-5, 11-3.
Third seed Li Xiaoxia, who beat her teammate Ding to win the gold medal in London, also advanced with a 11-7, 11-4, 8-11, 11-3, 11-4 victory over Ruta Paskauskiene.
Feng Tianwei, the fourth seed from Singapore, defeated Iulia Necula of 4-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-4, 11-6.
Chinese qualifier Hu Limei, ranked a distant 1,267th, continued her brilliant form by demolishing Hungary's Georgina Pota. She was joined by four other teammates Liu Shiwen, Chen Meng, Wu Yang and Zhu Yuling in the next round.
Liu, the second seed, beat Englishwoman Kelly Sibley 11-3, 11-2, 11-1, 11-8.
However, Japan's Ai Fukuhara was upset by little-known Park Seong-hye of South Korea.
The 12th-ranked Fukuhara, who has long been Japan's darling of the sport, lost 4-11, 11-6, 11-9, 3-11, 11-8, 11-6 to Park, ranked 166th in the world.
"I was too nervous and failed to play my best," the 24-year-old said, speaking in Mandarin. "I don't think there was anything wrong. I did not control the rhythm well."
The Japanese star made too many errors in the sixth game and said that cost her the chance to advance. "I know nothing about her because she has never appeared in a major tournament," Fukuhara said.
Fukuhara shocked table tennis world by reaching the last eight at the 2003 Paris world championships at the age of 14. But that remains her best singles feat at the tournament.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)