Nine Chinese paddlers moved past the round of 16 at the WTT Champions Chongqing 2024 on Saturday, amongst whom men's singles World No. 1 Wang Chuqin survived a five-game thriller against Japan's Sora Matsushima.
Wang Chuqin (R) serves in the round of 16 against Sora Matsushima at the WTT Champions Chongqing in Chongqing Municipality, China, June 1, 2024. /CFP
Wang and Matsushima exchanged leads in the first four games, with the Japanese player leveling the match both times after Wang took the lead. The 17-year-old reached match point first in the decider at 10-9, but couldn't seize the opportunity against the world number one who took three points straight to set up a quarterfinal clash against teammate Lin Gaoyuan.
In other action on the men's side, Fan Zhendong and Liang Jingkun defeated teammate Xiang Peng and France's Alexis Lebrun, respectively.
On the women's side, China's Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, Wang Yidi, Wang Manyu and Chen Xingtong all went through to Sunday's quarterfinal.