Chinese star paddlers Ma Long and Xu Xin booked a singles semifinal encounter after outplaying respective opponents at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Finals on Friday.

The ongoing ITTF Finals are held behind closed doors in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province between November 19 and 22.

In a repeat of last year's World Championships final, Ma built a 7-1 advantage over Mattias Falck of Sweden en route to an 11-5 first game victory. Then Falck regained momentum and won 11-7, 11-5 in the next two games. Ma leveled the match at 2-2 overall and then ended their quarterfinal with a 4-2 victory.

Xu drew level with Lin Yun-ju of Chinese Taipei after four games. Then the second seed comfortably went through with 11-2 and 11-3 in the next two games.

"I didn't want to have many ups and downs. When he leveled the score at 2-2, I thought that I needed some changes," Xu said.

World No. 1 Fan Zhendong won the first three games at 11-6, 13-11, 11-7 over Hugo Calderano. The Brazilian regrouped afterward to pull one game back at 11-9, but top-seeded Fan sealed his win by nailing the fifth game 11-9.

The exception was Lin Gaoyuan, who was stopped by South Korean Jang Woo-jin after a seven-game thriller. Jang will contend for a final spot with Fan.

In women's games, Chinese paddlers Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha will meet again in less than half a month after outplaying their respective opponents on Friday.

Top-ranked Chen won her singles quarterfinal with a 4-2 victory over Petrissa Solja of Germany, after conceding two games.

"A thrilling match," Chen said in relief. "When I was two games behind, I could rather relax a little bit and become more familiar with her style."

Solja admitted she felt a little upset, while saying "if somebody told me before that I could play such a close match against her, I would be satisfied."

"We had good rallies. It was a good experience playing against the world No. 1," the German added.

Sun Yingsha also withstood huge pressure from South Korean Suh Hyo-won, rallying from one game down by pocketing the following three games to turn the match around.

"I was not quite accustomed to her spins at the start," admitted Sun.

Chen beat Sun in the World Cup final in their last meeting on November 10 in Weihai, east China's Shandong Province.

"Hopefully I can enjoy the match tomorrow, and make more adjustments in adversities," Sun noted.

Japan's Mima Ito edged out China's Wang Yidi 4-3 in their quarterfinal on Friday.

"I had many unforced mistakes," rued Wang. "Leading 2-1, I didn't do a good job at the start of the following games, which made it quite difficult to come back into contention."

Ito will next face another Chinese Wang Manyu, who dispatched Cheng I-ching of Chinese Taipei 11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6 and 11-6.

"I'm looking forward to the next match. Hopefully, I can show my character and more determination to win," Ito explained.