China's Zhang eases through at tabletennis champs
2009-05-02

Nations South Korea Czech Republic Slovakia Denmark Romania Netherlands Hungary China Category Regions Regions Asia Pacific Rim Europe People Wang Liqin Wang Hao Zhang Yining Source (AFP)

YOKOHAMA, Japan (AFP) - China's world number one and hot-favourite Zhang Yining became the first player to reach the women's singles fourth round at the world table tennis championships here on Friday.

The Beijing Olympic gold medallist and top seed here was in good form as she demolished Daniela Dodean of Romania to move a step closer to regaining the title she won in 2005.

She led a Chinese onslaught as Guo Yan, Li Xiaoxia, Guo Yue, Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen all advanced.

Guo Yan lost a game for the first time this week but still easily beat Park Young-Sook of South Korea, while Li also outclassed Elke Schall of Germany, again in five games.

Defending champion Guo Yue brushed aside Huang Yi-hua of Taiwan, while Ding defeated Wu Jiaduo of Germany and Liu saw off Japan's Mikie Tasei.

"I was under pressure in the beginning," said Ding. "But I did my best and I think I played better in the latter half."

Also joining the Chinese contingent in the fourth round is Krisztina Toth of Hungary, Yu Meng Yu of Singapore, Japanese teenager Kasumi Ishikawa and Renata Strbikova and Iveta Vacenovska, both of the Czech Republic.

Li Jiao of the Netherlands also made it through after a tough match against Sun Bei Bei of Singapore.

In the men's game, Chinese world number one Wang Hao lost a game for the first time this week before beating Thomas Keinath of Slovakia in the third round.

Three-time world champion Wang Liqin struggled to beat Adrien Mattenet of France, while Ma Long comfortably won against Zoran Primorac of Croatia.

"I lost my concentration in the fourth game, I made too many errors. I felt pressure and I was nervous, too. I think I just played normal," said Wang Liqin.

Chen Qi walked out the winner over Xu Xin in an all-Chinese match.

Jiang Tianyi of Hong Kong, Japan's Kaii Yoshida, Kim Jung-Hoon of South Korea, Panagiotis Gionis of Greece, Michael Maze of Denmark and Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany will also progress to the fourth round.

Other third-round winners were Japan's Jun Mizutani and Kenta Matsudaira, Cheung Yuk of Hong Kong and Joo Se-Hyuk of South Korea.