Chinese paddlers sweep titles at WTT Champions Incheon
Chinese paddlers swept both women's and men's singles titles at WTT Champions Incheon as Sun Yingsha and Liang Jingkun were crowned on Sunday.
Gold medalist Liang Jingkun (L) of China and silver medalist Hugo Calderano of Brazil pose with the trophies during the awarding ceremony after the men's singles final between Liang Jingkun of China and Hugo Calderano of Brazil at the WTT Champions Incheon 2024 in Incheon, South Korea, March 31, 2024. (Photo by Jun Hyosang/Xinhua)
World No. 1 Sun harvested a straight-set victory of 4-0 in the showdown against her compatriot Wang Manyu. Sun won the final 11-7, 11-5, 11-4 and 11-4.
In the semifinal on Saturday evening, both Sun and Wang won over their teammates Wang Yidi and Chen Meng, 4-0 and 4-2 respectively, to set up an all-Chinese final.
Speaking after the victory, Sun said her overall performance was great. "Because we (Wang and I) are partners, we know each other quite well. I prepared myself very well mentally before the game and I think I did a good job in controlling the tempo today," Sun said.
In the men's final against Brazilian world No. 8 Hugo Calderano who eliminated China's world No. 1 Fan Zhendong 4-2 in the semifinal, second seed Liang won the first game 11-6, lost the second 6-11 before he swept three games in a row (11-8, 11-7, 11-5) to take home the crown.
Sun Yingsha of China hits a return during the women's Singles Final match between Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu of China at the 2024 WTT Champions Incheon 2024 at Inspire Arena in Incheon, South Korea. 31, March 2024. (Photo by Jun Hyosang/Xinhua)
On Saturday, Liang edged over his compatriot and third seed Ma Long 4-3 in the semifinal.
Liang noted that winning the game against Ma was a breakthrough for him. "Before today's final against Calderano, I had made up my mind to pull out all the stops with no slacking off at all. Generally, I had a good play today and my movement and the pressure that I put on the opponent were in place. I hope to continue to make more solid progress step by step," he said.
As the first WTT Champions Series event on the 2024 calendar, the world's top players gathered in Incheon to battle for a prize pool of 300,000 U.S. dollars, while both champions will also earn 1,000 ITTF world ranking points each.