MUSCAT, MAR 4
China swept the men’s and women’s singles semifinals spots to dominate the WTT Contender Muscat 2022 on Friday.
World No 5 Liang Jingkun of China justified his top billing to storm into the men’s section semifinals against compatriot Xiang Peng.
The men’s top seed brushed aside the challenge of Sweden’s Jon Persson 3-0 (11-7, 12-10, 11-4) in the quarterfinal at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.
Peng ended the challenge of China’s Wang Chuqin 3-1 (9-11, 15-13, 11-7, 11-8).
The second semifinal will also be an all-China affair with Liu Dingshuao taking on Lin Gaoyuan.
Dingshuao accounted for Nigeria’s World No 11 Quadri Aruna 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 13-11) and Gaoyuan beat compatriot Lin Shidong 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-8).
In the women’s singles, World Junior champion Kuai Man of China established her credentials with a solid 3-0 win against top Indian player Manika Batra. Man prevailed 11-9, 11-4, 11-3 in a one-sided affair. She will play compatriot Quain Tianyi in the last-four clash.
Tianyi beat China’s He Zhuojia 3-1 (5-11, 11-6, 11-9, 14-12) in the quarterfinal.
In the other semifinal, tournament’s star Fan Siqi takes on Xiaoxin Yang.
Siqi thrashed Jieni Shao of Portugal 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-6).
Yang came up better against Elizabeta Samara of Romania 3-1 (11-5, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8) in the quarterfinal.
In the men’s doubles final, the Chinese pair of Lin Shidong and Xiang Peng will take on Chinese Taipei’s Peng Wang-Wei and Chuang Chih-Yuan.
Shidong and Peng beat Darius Movileanu and Eduard Ionescu of Romania 3-1 while Wang-Wei and Chih-Yuan prevailed over Cedric Nuytinck of Belgium and Jakub Dyjas of Poland 3-0 in the semifinals.
INDIAN PAIR IN FINALS
In the women’s doubles final, India’s Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee meet China’s Zhang Rui and Kuai Man on Saturday.
Sutirtha and Ayhika prevailed over compatriots Sreeja Akula and Selena Selvakumar 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 12-10) in the semifinal.
Rui and Man beat Qian Tianyi and Chen Xingtong of China 3-1 (11-3, 9-11, 11-4, 11-5).
In the mixed doubles final, India’s Manav Vikash Thakkar-Archana Girish Kamath duo take on Chen Xingtong and Wang Chuqin of China.
The Indian pair prevailed over the Hungarian pair of Nandor Ecseki and Leila Imre 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-5).
The Chinese pair ended the challenge of Li Hsin-Yu and Cheng I-Ching of Chinese Taipei 3-0 in the last-four clash.
The tournament will conclude on Saturday afternoon.
