WASHINGTON, July 13 (Xinhua) — China’s Wang Chuqin swept Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto in the men’s singles final, while university teacher and former World Cup winner Zhu Yuling returned to the top by defeating Chen Yi in a clash of female giant-killers at the WTT US Smash in Las Vegas on Sunday.
Wang, who became China’s first left-handed men’s singles world champion earlier this year, gave little chance to the third-seeded Harimoto, who has a reputation for struggling against left-handed opponents.
Displaying confidence and control, the second-seeded Wang dominated with wide-angled shots and steady rallies, securing an 11-3, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8 victory.
“I kept level-headed either in lead or trailing,” said Wang. “I felt so relieved when the tournament was over. I need a short break and come back again.”
Zhu had previously stepped away from the sport to recover from cancer, pursue academic studies, become a professor at Tianjin University, and manage her family business. She returned to competitive play last year and upset world No. 2 Wang Manyu on her way to the final. Chen, 20, had earlier eliminated several top seeds, including reigning world champion Sun Yingsha.
“This isn’t a typical clash of speed and power,” said Zhu. “We battled against each other in terms of patience, tenacity, spin, offense and defense.”
