Chinese dominate worlds despite Ma Lin exit

China’s Xin Xu competes during the second round of the Men’s Singles of the World Table Tennis Championships in Paris on May 16, 2013.

Paris (AFP): Defending world champion Zhang Jike overcame a stiff challenge from Brazil’s Gustavo Tsuboi to safely advance to the third round of the World Table Tennis Championships in Paris on Thursday.

Chinese star Zhang, also the Olympic title-holder but seeded fourth in the French capital after a run of inconsistent performances this year, was made to labour initially against an opponent ranked 75 places below him before securing an 11-9, 13-15, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7 victory.

The reward for Zhang is a third-round showdown with compatriot Fan Zhendong, the world number 38, who was taken the distance by Portugal’s Joao Monteiro before scraping through in the deciding game.

Top-ranked Xu Xin cruised into the last 32 after dismantling Sweden’s Par Gerell 11-5, 11-3, 11-7, 11-7 to set up a meeting with Portuguese Tiago Apolonia.

Reigning World Cup champion and second seed Ma Long breezed past his second-round opponent Wang Zengyi of Poland 11-8, 11-2, 11-9, 11-5, while 2009 world championship gold medallist Wang Hao dropped just one game as he brushed aside Cheung Yuk of Hong Kong 11-5, 11-4, 6-11, 11-4, 11-3.

Yan An also progressed, but veteran Chinese star Ma Lin saw his hopes of claiming an elusive world championship title dashed once more as the world No. 8 was sent tumbling out by Japan’s Kenta Mastudaira 11-5, 11-7, 11-4, 12-14, 11-7.

Ma, the 2008 Olympic champion in Beijing and a record four-time World Cup winner, narrowly held off an 18-year-old Matsudaira at the 2009 event but this time it was the former top-rated junior who emerged triumphant in the French capital.

Olympic bronze medallist Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany matched his Chinese rivals step-for-step with an 11-8, 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 success against Croatian Zoran Primorac, while fellow German Timo Boll, the lone European in the top five, remained in the title hunt as he dispatched India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta 9-11, 12-10, 11-1, 11-5, 11-2.

Earlier, women’s top seed Ding Ning coasted into the round of 16 as she took another step towards defending the title she won two years ago in Rotterdam.

The Chinese world number one dispatched countrywoman Hu Limei 11-4, 11-8, 11-5, 11-2 at the Bercy Arena to book a last-16 match-up South Korea’s Park Seonghye, conquerer of Japanese 10th seed Ai Fukuhara in the opening round on Wednesday.

Second-ranked Liu Shiwen swept aside Zhenqi Barthel of Germany 11-3, 11-8, 11-8, 11-3, while Olympic title-holder Li Xiaoxia whitewashed Japan’s Sayaka Hirano 11-4, 11-6, 11-4, 11-6.

Cheng Meng, who will be Li’s fourth-round opponent, and Wu Yang breezed through their matches, but the seventh member of China’s robust squad Zhu Yuling was made to work hard before finally battling past Hong Kong’s Lee Ho Ching 11-3, 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7 to give China six representatives in the last 16.

Fourth seed Feng Tianwei of Singapore, the highest non-Chinese entrant in the draw, swept past Shiho Matsudaira 11-6, 11-6, 12-10, 11-3, while Spain’s Shen Yanfei, the top-rated European, also advanced after fending off Romanian Daniela Dodean, as she continues to enjoy the best period of her career at 33 years old.

However, there was further disappointment for Japan as world number eight Kasumi Ishikawa crashed to a humbling lopsided defeat against North Korean Ri Myong Sun, a day after Fukuhara’s premature exit.