(By Amy Karpinski, President of Cape Fear Table Tennis Club/Photo by . Press the Enter key to open the contact card.">Tony Murnahan)

Semi-Finals Pairings Finalized! Pair of USA’s Lily Zhang/China’s Lin Gaoyuan Advance!!!

Mixed Doubles

The most exciting news of the morning for US fans is that the ping pong diplomacy team of USA’s Lily Zhang and China’s Lin Gaoyuan continue to cruise their way to the semi-finals by defeating the world no 4 mixed doubles pair of Jia Nan Yuan/Emmanuel Lebesson of France. Zhang/Gaoyuan delighted fans with a 3-1 win and the crowd roared when the match was final. The pair will face the Japanese powerhouse team of Tomokazu Harimoto/Hina Hayata. The Japanese pair proved too much for the Indian pair of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran/Manika Batra. Despite a valiant late comeback effort and spirited chanting from the crowd, the Indian pair fell to the Japanese 3-1.

Taipei’s power team of Cheng I-Ching/Lin Yun-Ju proved too much for the young team from Hong Kong. Ho Kwan Kit/Lee Ho Ching fell 3-1 to the more experienced team from Taipei. Cheng/Lin will face the intimidating pair of Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha from China. Wang/Sun continues their torid pace through the field defeating the Spanish pair of Maria Xiao/Alvaro Robles in four games.

Full results of the mixed doubles event can be found at this link: https://eventresults.ittf.com/eventInfo?subEvt=XDOUBLES&selectedTab=Draws&eventId=2346

Men’s Doubles

The battle lines for the semifinals were cemented today.

The biggest upset of the day must be Sweden’s Kristian Karlsson/Mattias Falck duo defeating the heavily favored Wang Chuqin/Fan Zhendong pair from China. Karlsson/Mattias masterminded an efficient and powerful strategy that took the Chinese team by surprise. The Swedes defeated the Chinese in five hard fought games and will face another Chinese pair in the semis. Lin Gaoyuan/Liang Jingkun are through to the semi’s but not without a fight. The strong German pairing of Benedikt Duda/Dang Qui gave the Chinese trouble and it took five games to put the German’s away.

Sunsuke Togami/Yukiya Uda from Japan dashed England’s Paul Drinkhall/Liam Pitchford’s hopes of advancing to the semi-finals. The Togami/Uda pairing’s speed and consistency overcame the English duo’s creative shot making abilities and fell 3-1 to the Japanese team. The Japanese pair will face the strong Korean pairing of Jang Woojin/Lim Jonghoon. The Korean pair cruised to victory over Ho Kwan Kit/Wong Chun Ting of Hong Kong in four games.

The action will be fierce in tomorrow’s men’s semifinals!

Full results of the men’s doubles event can be found here: https://eventresults.ittf.com/eventInfo?subEvt=MDOUBLES&selectedTab=Draws&eventId=2346

Women’s Doubles

The women’s doubles semi-finals are set!

It was another day in the park for Japanese dream team of Mimo Ito/Hina Hayata. The Japanese pair shattered the hopes of Andreea Dragoman/Elizabeta Samara by crushing the Romanian pair in three games. The Japanese pair will face their toughest team yet by facing China’s Qian Tianyi/Chen Meng who also crushed their Korean foes, Choi Hyojoo/Lee Zion three straight. The Japanese/Chinese match tomorrow is sure to be highly charged with a strong fan contingent on both sides.

Another huge upset in doubles action today was the victory of upset-makers Sarah De Nutte/Sia Lian Ni of Luxemburg. De Nutte/Ni defeated the much higher rated and favored team of Archana Girish Kamath/Manika Batra from India in four games. It will be determined if the pair from Luxemburg has any gas left in their tank to upset the intimidating pair of Wang Manyu/Sun Yingsha who battled their way to the semis by eeking out a victory over the popular Japanese team of Kasumi Ishikawa/Miu Hirano. The Japanese pair fought hard in a blisteringly fast shot making match but ultimately fell to the Chinese in five games.

For all of women’s doubles results, please click here: https://eventresults.ittf.com/eventInfo?subEvt=WDOUBLES&selectedTab=Draws&eventId=2346

Doubles semi-final action begin tomorrow, Sunday, November 28.

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