Qian stuns Ito; defending champion Chen falls

China’s Qian Tianyi upset world No. 5 Mima Ito of Japan in straight sets while reigning champion Chen Meng failed to reach the round of 16 in the women’s singles at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash here on Monday.

Qian, who is ranked 22nd in the world, saved two match points en route to a 12-10 victory in the deciding set, Xinhua news agency reported.

– I kept my persistence in the game. Leading or trailing, I stayed calm,” Qian explained.

Qian faces French veteran Yuan Jianan, who eliminated fellow Chinese paddler Fan Siq 3-1.

Another full-set match went the other way for Olympic champion Chen, who lost the deciding set 11-8 to Romania’s Elizabeta Samara. The Chinese Wang Yidi was also out of the competition after falling 3-2 to the Japanese Miu Hirano.

Also on Monday, Zhang Rui dispatched Hungary’s Georgina Pota 3-1 and Chen Xingtong overcame South Korea’s Jeon Ji-hee in straight sets.

Top-ranked Fan Zhendong outclassed Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia 3-0 to take three other Chinese paddlers into the round of 16 in the men’s singles.

Lin Gaoyuan defeated South Korea’s Jang Woo-jin 3-2, Wang Chuqin edged past Canada’s Eugene Wang 3-0 and WTT Star Contender Goa winner Liang Jingkun continued his favorable form to eliminate Chinese Taipei’s Feng Yi-Hsin 3-0.

Fan also paired with Wang Manyu to defeat Romanian duo Ovidiu Ionescu/Bernadette Szocs 3-2 to reach the mixed doubles quarterfinals. Top seeds Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha also reached the last eight after beating Slovakia’s Lubomir Pistej/Barbora Balazova 3-0.