Sun Yingsha (L) and Chen Meng of China. /CFP
Sun Yingsha of China knocked out Kasumi Ishigawa of Japan 4-0 in the quarterfinal match in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Women's World Cup in Weihai, east China's Shandong Province on Monday.
In the other quarterfinal match of this division, Japan's ace player Mima Ito beat Chen Szu-Yu of Chinese Taipei 4-1. Sun and Ito will meet each other in the semifinal match on Tuesday.
It did not take Sun or Ishigawa much effort to take care of their opponents in the first round earlier on Monday. Sun eliminated Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico 4-1 and Ishigawa took out Sun Hyo-won of South Korea 4-0.
Sun Yingsha of China looks to serve in the quarterfinal match against Kasumi Ishigawa of Japan in the ITTF Women's World Cup in Weihai, east China's Shandong Province, November 9, 2020. /CFP
However, the quarterfinal match was a one-sided competition from the beginning as Sun won three straight games 11-6, 11-4 and 11-4. Ishgawa finally put up some resistance in Game 4 and led 4-0, but Sun did not panic. She caught up steadily and took the control of the match back into her hands before winning Game 4 11-7 and making the semifinals.
"I have played against Kasumi on many occasions before and we are quite familiar with each other's playing style. However, I still had to prepare well for my match against her as she is a strong opponent," said Sun.
"I just wanted to enjoy the match and try to face the pressure with no emotion or with a smile. After all I have put all the effort into my practice so I just want to enjoy the match. It doesn't matter who I play tomorrow, I just need to play my game. I just hope to play a good game that everyone can enjoy. I'm really happy to just be part of this experience," said Ito.
Mima Ito of Japan in the quarterfinal match against Chen Szu-Yu of Chinese Taipei in the ITTF Women's World Cup in Weihai, November 9, 2020. /CFP
Sun and Ito met in total six times in international events since 2018 and Sun won five of them. In last year's ITTF Team World Cup, Sun managed to come back from 2-0 trail to defeat Ito. In the interview before this year's World Cup, Ito said she added new weapons to her arsenal during the eight-month long halt. She will understandably be a much tougher opponent than Ishigawa to Sun.
In the other division, China's Chen Meng swept Lily Zhang of the U.S. Her rival in the semifinal match will be Han Ying of Germany who knocked out Cheng I-ching of Chinese Taipei 4-2.
"Even though I won 4-0, every single game was not easy for me. During the match there were a lot of ups and downs and I thought it was important that I was able to adjust during the match. Lily's improvement has been huge. She made it all the way to the semi-finals last year. I had to prepare for her as well as all other opponents as they are all very good players," said Chen.