| | | | Top 4 Seeds select quarterfinal opponents at WTT Macao |
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 | | Xu Xin, top seed in the men's competition in Macao, selects Sweden's Mattias Falck as his quarterfinal opponent. |
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A novel and innovative draw took place to decide the quarterfinal matches being played at WTT Macao on Friday 27 November 2020. This was one of many experiments that have been trialled this week by WTT, as part of their preparations for 2021.
The Top 4 Seed Battle, which had taken place during the first two days of action between 25-26 November, determined the order of seeds for the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, the remaining four quarterfinalists had qualified through Battle One (played on Day One) featuring seeds 9-16 – and Battle Two (played on Day Two) in which seeds 5-8 took on the four winners of Battle One.
At the end of play on Thursday, the top 4 seeds took part in a unique draw, in which they could choose their opponents for the quarterfinals. Seed 1 had the first choice, followed by Seed 2, then Seed 3, with Seed 4 playing the remaining quarterfinalist.
Men’s Singles
China’s Xu Xin was seed 1, having won both his matches against Brazil’s Hugo Calderano (3-2) and compatriot Ma Long (3-2). Xu decided to face Sweden’s Mattias Falck in the quarterfinal. Falck, seed 6, had qualified courtesy of a 3-0 success against Brazil’s Gustavo Tsuboi.
Ma Long, whose opening day win against China’s Lin Gaoyuan (3-1) followed by Thursday’s loss to Xu Xin saw him finish as seed 2, selected Korea Republic’s Jeoung Youngsik. The Korean, seed 8, overcame England’s Liam Pitchford (3-2) in Battle Two.
Lin Gaoyuan, who fought back from 0-2 down to defeat Hugo Calderano on Thursday, emerged as Seed 3. Lin picked an all-Chinese battle against Fang Bo in the quarterfinal. A men’s singles silver medallist at the 2015 World Championships, but the bottom seed 16 in Macao, Bo stunned Cbinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju, seed 5, in Battle Two, having also knocked out Austria’s Robert Gardos in Battle One.
That left Calderano, seed 4, with no choice but to take on China’s rising star, Wang Chuqin. The 20-year-old, seed 7, had eliminated Hong Kong China’s Wong Chun Ting in Battle Two.
Women’s Singles
China’s Wang Manyu was seed 1, having won both her matches against compatriots Sun Yingsha (3-1) and Chen Meng (3-2). Wang decided to face Chinese Taipei’s Cheng I-Ching in the quarterfinal. Cheng, seed 5, had knocked out China’s Liu Weishan in Battle Two.
Chen Meng’s opening day win against China’s Ding Ning (3-1) followed by Thursday’s loss to Wang Manyu saw her finish as seed 2. Chen opted to take on Singapore’s Feng Tianwei in the quarterfinal. Feng, seed 6, had defeated USA’s Lily Zhang in straight games in the previous round.
Ding Ning, who emerged seed 3 thanks to her win on Thursday against Sun Yingsha (3-1), booked a quarterfinal date against compatriot Chen Xingtong. Chen, seed 8, had qualified courtesy of a straight games win over Hong Kong China’s Doo Hoi Kem in Battle Two.
That left Sun Yingsha, who finished as seed 4 after two defeats in the Top 4 Seed Battle, with no option but to face Wang Yidi. The Chinese seed 7 impressed on Thursday with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Korea Republic’s Jeon Jihee.
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