Sun Yingsha beats Szocs to reach quarterfinals at WTT Champions Macao

Top seed Sun Yingsha of China defeated Bernadette Szocs of Romania in four games 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9 in the women's singles round of 16 at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Champions Macao in China's Macao SAR (Special Administrative Region) on Friday.

The 24-year-old world champion enjoyed a smooth start, quickly jumping out to a 5-0 lead on her way to claiming the opening game 11-5.

Szocs showed resilience in the second, however, first recovering from a 4-2 deficit to level the game at 5-5, and then surging into an 8-5 advantage. Although Sun pulled level a 9-9, she followed up with a ill-timed miscue that brought up game point for her opponent. The European wasted no time converting as she knotted the match at 1-1.

China's World No. 1 opened the third game with a 5-1 run, and then extended her edge to 7-2. Szocs worked hard to rally, but couldn't stop Sun from closing out the game 11-7 to regain the overall advantage.

The 30-year-old Romanian fell behind 6-2 in the fourth game, and despite cutting the deficit after scoring three straight points, she was not able to narrow the gap any further. In the end, Sun prevailed 11-9 to seal the 3-1 victory.

Her opponent in the quarterfinals will be Puerto Rico's Adriana Diaz, who upset China's No. 5 seed Wang Yidi on Thursday.

"After losing the second game, my coach Ma Lin reminded me that I should be more patient, because winning is built one point by one point," Sun said after the match. "After that I adjusted my mentality well in the third game. On the first match point, I had a chance to win, but couldn't get it. We had a break, and it helped me to focus on the next play, which finished the match. I was well-prepared for the challenges."

In other action, Sun's compatriot Wang Manyu overcame a 2-1 deficit to edge Hina Hayata of Japan 7-11, 11-3, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7 to reach the quarterfinals. China's second-seeded Wang will face the Macao SAR's seventh-seeded home hope Zhu Yuling next.

In the men's singles competition, World No. 1 Lin Shidong of China cruised past Oh Jun-sung of South Korea in straight games 11-6, 13-11, 11-8 in the round of 16.

Lin faced a 3-1 deficit early in the opener, but responded by scoring six points in a row. He went on to bring up game point with a 10-6 lead, before immediately converting to grab a 1-0 overall lead in the match.

The second game was much closer, with the two contestants tied at 5-5 after the first 10 points. Oh soon snatched an 8-6 edge, only to see his 20-year-old Chinese opponent reply by leveling the score twice at 9-9 and 11-11. Lin then picked up the next two points to increase his overall edge to 2-0.

The top seed didn't leave many opportunities for his opponent in the third game, quickly building up an 8-4 margin. Although Oh saved two match points after trailing 10-6, he could only watch helplessly as Lin wrapped up a 3-0 victory.

The quarterfinals will see the World No. 1 go up against Anders Lind of Denmark, who knocked out Chen Yuanyu of China on Friday.

"I could adapt to the competition, but my opponent switched to some new tactics at the end of the second game," Lin said after the win. "He slowed down the pace, and that distracted me. but I gradually found my rhythm after adjusting. I fought for every single point, as I think it was crucial to win the second game."