Taiwan’s world No. 1 mixed doubles duo reach WTT Singapore final

Taipei, March 14 (CNA) Taiwan’s world no. 1 pairing of Lin Yun-ju (林 昀 儒) and Cheng I-Ching (鄭怡靜) reached the mixed doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash after outdueling Emmanuel Lebesson and Jia Nan Yuan of France Tuesday.

The Tokyo Olympic medalists Lin and Cheng, who top the world table tennis mixed doubles rankings, defeated Lebesson and Yuan 11-8, 11-5, 10-12, 11-9 in a semifinal match that lasted 34 minutes and 46 seconds at Singapore Sports Hub’s Table 1.

Th Taiwanese pairing also defeated the French duo at the Tokyo Olympics last year to clinch Bronze, Taiwan’s first Olympic table tennis medal in 21 years.

The top seeds meet the winners of the semifinal match between Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong and Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin of China in the final on Wednesday.

Lin and Cheng found themselves tied 7-7 with their French opponents before moving ahead and winning the first game. Errors by Lebesson and Yuan also helped the Taiwanese duo win the second game.

Lin and Cheng were down in the third game before coming back to reach the match point at 10-9, but lost the next two points in a row to lose the third game 10-12.

The Taiwanese pair Secured an early lead of 4-1 in the fourth game before several forehand shots by Cheng helped extend the score to 9-5 and reach a match point at 10-8. Lebesson and Yuan saved the first match point but conceded the second.

After the match, Cheng described the Taiwanese duo’s strategy for the final.

“Be focused on every moment and do our best is the best preparation,” Cheng said.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese paddlers Chuang Chih-yuan (莊智淵) and Chen Chien-an (陳建安) cruised past Lim Jonghoon and Jang Woojin of South Korea 11-7, 11-7, 11-3 in the quarterfinals Tuesday to advance to the semifinals.

Chuang and Chen face Shunsuke Togami and Yukiya Uda of Japan in the semifinals Wednesday.

The WTT Singapore Smash is held March 7-20.