Day 9 in Tianjin is a day of women's doubles and men's doubles. Mu Zi and Gu Yuting celebrate winning the women's doubles title and the men's doubles champion goes to Fan Zhendong and Zhou Yu who were the men's doubles champion at the 12th National Games as well.
Day 9 was started off with a surprising defeat. The 2017 women's doubles world champion were out. Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen were defeated by 2015 China Open women's doubles runner-up Gu Yuting and Mu Zi. In the semifinals, Gu Yuting and Mu Zi were very aggressive in their forehand and gave no chance for Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen to win the match. Gu Yuting and Mu Zi proceeded to the finals with a 4-1 victory. In another semifinals the 2017 WTTC women's doubles runner-up, Zhu Yuling and Chen Meng won 4-2 over Feng Yalan and Liu Gaoyang.
The bronze medal match of the women's doubles was a close one. After 5 exciting matches, Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen won 3-2 over Feng Yalan and Liu Gaoyang with a 2-point advantage at the 5th game.
In the finals, the left-handed and right handed combination, Gu Yuting and Mu Zi romped to victory winning 4-1 over the right-handed pairs Zhu Yuling and Chen Meng. In general Gu Yuting and Mu Zi were more aggressive and had a better ball placement. At the end they walked away with the women's doubles champion. An interesting moment in the award ceremony is that the women's doubles champion of the last Games (12th National Games), Cao Zhen and Mu Zi, were on the top of the podium at the 13th Games. Mu Zi earned her second women's doubles national games champion while Cao Zhen was on the podium as a coach of Team PLA this year. It also marked a happy ending for Mu Zi as she has mentioned the 13th National Games would be her last National Games as an athletes.
The men's doubles semifinals started between 2011 men's doubles world champion, Xu Xin and Ma Long and Zhang Yudong and Sun Wen. Xu Xin came into the semifinals with a waist guard as he suffered from a soaring shoulder and injured waist after an intense 7-match men's singles quarterfinals against Hao Shuai last night. In the men's doubles semifinals, Xu Xin rarely played pivot forehand loop in full strength perhaps it is to save some strength for the finals scheduled on later this day and to prevent from injuring himself more. It was not a good game but the world champion pairs are much stronger than the Jiangsu duo won 4-0. The other semifinals between Yan An and Lin Gaoyuan and Fan Zhendong and Zhou Yu was much more exciting. Yan An and Lin Gaoyuan was agile and aggressive while Fan Zhendong made mistakes in his flick and Zhou Yu missing his forehand shots. Fan Zhendong and Zhou Yu did not grab their game point in the first game losing 11-13. Their performance fluctuated quite a bit but it was good enough for them to make to the finals.
Yan An and Lin Gaoyuan had not much problem in the bronze medal match and clinched the bronze medal after winning 3-1 over Zhang Yudong and Sun Wen. The men's doubles final had reached the climax of the day. Despite Xu Xin's injuries, he was going all out in the men's doubles final. Xu Xin and Ma Long had a better control of ball placements and variations in the finals. The only concern was Xu Xin was not able to play fast and play strong in his loop due to the injuries. After 5 games, the PLA pairs was leading 3-2 and Xu Xin called for a medical timeout and removed his waistguard. The few minutes break had interrupted the momentum of the PLA pairs. This gave a chance for Xu Xin and Ma Long to close down the gap with a 11-1 victory. Fortunately, the PLA pairs retain their composure at the 7th game. The two pairs had a very close 7th game and never had a lead that exceed 2 points. At 9-9, Zhou Yu had some luck in his return as it caught the net and put them in a 10-9 lead. Ma Long missed the next point. The PLA pairs, Fan Zhendong and Zhou Yu successfully defend their men's doubles nation games champion like what Wang Tao and Liu Guoliang did in the 7th and 8th National Games.
Results of Day 9 (5 September)
Women's Doubles
Women's Doubles Semifinals
Ding Ning / Liu Shiwen (Beijing / Shanghai) 1-4 Gu Yuting / Mu Zi (Shandong / PLA)
11-7, 5-11, 7-11, 8-11, 7-11 [Full Match]
Liu Gaoyang / Feng Yalan (Shandong / Hubei) 2-4 Zhu Yuling / Chen Meng (Sichuan / Shandong)
8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 4-11, 5-11 [Full Match]
Women's Doubles Bronze Medal Match
Ding Ning / Liu Shiwen (Beijing / Shanghai) 3-2 Liu Gaoyang Vs Feng Yalan (Shandong / Hubei)
11-2, 9-11, 11-6, 11-13, 11-9 [Full Match]
Women's Doubles Finals
Gu Yuting / Mu Zi (Shandong / PLA) 4-1 Zhu Yuling / Chen Meng (Sichuan / Shandong)
11-7, 11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 11-6 [Full Match]
Men's Doubles
Men's Doubles Semifinals
Xu Xin / Ma Long (Shanghai / Beijing) 4-0 Zhang Yudong / Sun Wen (Jiangsu)
11-5, 11-9, 11-8, 12-10 [Full Match]
Yan An / Lin Gaoyuan (Beijing / Guangdong) 3-4 Zhou Yu / Fan Zhendong (PLA)
13-11, 4-11, 4-11, 12-10, 5-11, 14-12, 6-11 [Full Match]
Men's Doubles Bronze Medal Match
Zhang Yudong / Sun Wen (Jiangsu) 1-3 Yan An / Lin Gaoyuan (Beijing / Guangdong)
Xu Xin / Ma Long (Shanghai / Beijing) Vs Zhou Yu / Fan Zhendong (PLA)
14-16 11-9 13-11 8-11 8-11 11-1 9-11 [Full Match]
Day 10 will see the women's / men's singles semifinals, bronze medal match and finals. The 2017 WTTC women's singles finalists, Ding Ning and Zhu Yuling will play against each other in the semifinals. Let's see whether Zhu Yuling will extend her medal count to 4 medals at the 13th Games. Liu Shiwen will be facing the underdog, Wang Yidi in the semifinals. Liu Shiwen is relatively a more experienced and stronger athlete and has a better chance of making to the finals but who knows Wang Yidi will not surprise us. Ma Long will be playing against 17-year-old Wang Chuqin in the men's singles semifinals. In 2015 Wang Chuqin won Ma Long in the round of 16 at the Chinese Nationals. Let's see whether he will repeat that again in the semifinals. Even if Wang cannot beat Ma Long, following Ma Long's footstep 12 years ago, ending up third will put him at a very good position in the national team.
Women's Singles
Men's Singles
Day 10: September 6
10:00-11:30 Women's Singles Semifinals (10:00 BTV)
- Ding Ning (Beijing) Vs Zhu Yuling (Sichuan)
- Liu Shiwen (Guangdong) Vs Wang Yidi (Yunnan)
11:30-13:00 Men's Singles Semifinals (12:00 CCTV5+)
- Ma Long (Beijing) Vs Wang Chuqin (Beijing)
- Xu Xin (Shanghai) Vs Fan Zhendong (PLA)
15:30-16:00 Women's Singles Bronze Medal Match (15:30 BTV)
Zhu Yuling (Sichuan) Vs Wang Yidi (Yunnan)
16:00-16:30 Men's Singles Bronze Medal Match
Xu Xin (Shanghai) Vs Wang Chuqin
16:30-17:30 Women's Singles Finals (17:00 CCTV5)
Ding Ning (Beijing) Vs Liu Shiwen (Guangdong)
17:30-19:00 Men's Singles Finals (17:00 CCTV5)
Ma Long (Beijing) Vs Fan Zhendong (PLA)
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I will try my best to update this post as frequently as possible but I am not free on day time so some scores are not up to date. Thank you for your understanding.
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