The men's and women's table tennis singles tournaments continued on Tuesday with plenty of action across three sessions. Here are your highlights across an action packed day from the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
USA'S LIU INTO THE ROUND OF 16
American Liu Juan advanced to the women's singles Round of 16 with a comfortable 4-1 win over Romania's Bernadette Szocs in the early session. Despite entering the tournament as the 68-seed in a field of 70, Liu has won four matches in four days to reach the last sixteen. With fellow American Lily Zhang falling in her Round 3 match with Chinese Taipei's Szu Yu Chen, Liu is the final Team USA member standing in either men's or women's singles.
JEOUNG YOUNGSIK ESCAPES, CLINCHES QUARTERFINAL PLACE
There was one point during his Round 3 match in which Jeoung Youngsik's (KOR) elimination looked all but certain. That was before he saved seven straight match points, erased a 3-1 deficit, and eliminated Greece's Panagiotis Gionis in Game 7. Jeoung cruised past Germany's Timo Boll in the Round of 16, meaning the 10-seed went from staring elimination in the face to becoming the first men's singles quarterfinalist. All in a day's work.
MA SHAKES OFF TRICKY KAMAL
China's Ma Long was given a tricky Round 3 task in the form of India's Sharath Kamal, but one of the greatest players of all time was able to withstand Kamal's early push and book his ticket to the Round of 16 with a 4-1 win.
MORE ACTION TO COME
The men's and women's Rounds of 16 will conclude today in a session that begins at 6:30 a.m. EST. Some of the best talents in the world, including Fan Zhendong (CHN), Tomokazu Harimoto (JPN), Sun Yingsha (CHN) and Mima Ito (JPN) look to advance to the quarterfinals.
OTHER NOTABLE RESULTS:
Men's singles:
3 Tomikazu Harimoto (JPN) def. 50 Lam Siu-hang (HKG), 4-1
1 Fan Zhendong (CHN) def. 27 Emmanuel Lebesson (FRA), 4-0
Women's singles:
1 Meng Chen (CHN) def. 21 Zhang Mo (CAN), 4-1
16 Britt Eerland (NED) def. 19 Dina Meshref (EGY), 4-3 (was losing 3-0)
26 Yu Mengyu (SGP) def. 4 Cheng I-ching (TPE) 4-0
THIS IS A LIVE ARTICLE AND WILL UPDATE AS NECESSARY.
