Taiwanese table tennis player Lin Yun-ju on Sunday swept China’s Xiang Peng 4-0 in the WTT Contender Zagreb men’s singles final.
Lin, No. 8 in the world, defeated Xiang 11-8, 11-9, 11-5, 11-8 in 38 minutes to bag his first singles title of the season.
The match was the first time that Lin, 20, and Xiang, 19, had faced off in a professional competition.
Photo: screen grab from Facebook
Xiang, No. 65 in the world, had an impressive run in the tournament, with surprise victories over veteran player Chuang Chih-yuan of Taiwan and world No. 7 Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan.
In the final, Lin jumped out to an early 4-1 lead and maintained his momentum to take the first game 11-8. He then edged Xiang 11-9 in a closely fought second game.
After falling back 1-3 in the third game, Lin went on a five-point rally and dominated much of the rest of the match, winning the third game 11-5 and the fourth 11-8, despite Xiang saving match point twice.
Photo: CNA
In women’s doubles action on Sunday, the Taiwan pairing of Cheng Hsien-tzu and Huang Yu-wen was defeated in the WTT Contender Lima final in Peru.
Cheng and Huang placed second after losing 1-3 in the title match against the Japanese duo Asuka Sasao and Sakura Mori.
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