Chinese superstar Ma Long gave world no 1 Fan Zhendong a tremendous fight, before losing 4-3 in Men's final at WTT Singapore Smash!

China's Fan Zhendong (L) vs Ma Long. Photo Credit : WTT

By Pearlyn Koh

At the Men’s Singles Finals of the inaugural WTT Singapore Smash held in Singapore (20 Mar), it was the world number 1 Fan Zhendong who scored the victory against his teammate and two-time Olympic Men’s Singles gold medallist, Ma Long! Both Zhendong and Ma Long, in their respective semi-finals fixtures, overcame Japan’s Yukiya Uda 4-2 and Liang Jingkun of China 4-0.

The duo’s encounter at the OCBC Arena is their 22nd career meeting, with Ma Long emerging victorious in 16 out of their past 21 meetings! And their last encounter was at the Tokyo Olympics, also in the Men’s Singles Finals! Back then, it was 33-year-old Ma Long who overcame his younger opponent, to become the first ever male player to win the Men’s Singles title at the Olympic Games twice!

(China's Ma Long. Photo Credit : WTT) 

Dubbed the G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time), Ma Long would have wanted to prove himself yet again in the Lion City on Sunday (20 March) evening in the Men’s Singles Finals. But this time, it was the younger Zhendong who claimed the title as the Men’s Singles Champion of the first-ever WTT Singapore Smash, after he overcame Ma Long 4-3 (11-6, 11-6, 6-11, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7)!

In the rematch of the Tokyo Olympic Men’s Singles Finals match, Zhendong seemed to have found the tempo of the game quicker than his world number 2 opponent. Despite losing the first point in the opening 2 games, 25-year-old Zhendong never gave his opponent any opportunity to ever take the lead, as he took the first 2 games convincingly, both with a score margin of 11-6.

(World No 1 Fan Zhendong. Photo Credit : WTT)

Trailing 2-0, the world number 2 and double Olympics gold medallist remained cool-headed, knowing he still stood a chance if he could play the right strategy against his younger opponent. And so Ma Long entered Game 3 with confidence and nothing to lose. He started switching his serves, mixing up the locations and spins of them to confuse his opponent. True enough, Zhendong struggled to cope with the changes and variations in spins of Ma Long’s serves, as Ma Long took the lead all the way, before taking his first game 11-6!

In the 4th and 5th games, the world number 1 Zhendong was trying desperately to break the Olympic gold medallist’s good momentum from Game 3. But nothing seemed to be working in Zhendong’s way, as he remained unsuccessful in searching for a better way to cope with the variations of his opponent’s strong serves. On top of that, he was beginning to make more unforced errors, allowing his veteran opponent to consistently score points. And Ma Long clawed back yet another 2 games, 11-9 and 11-8 respectively, to bring himself to a 3-2 lead!

(China's Ma Long. Photo Credit : WTT) 

Game 6 seemed to be going in Ma Long’s way, and victory was near in sight as he took a comfortable 6-1 lead! But against the world number 1 Zhendong, no lead is ever too comfortable. Zhendong started adding in heavy spin shots to slow down Ma Long’s dominance in the past 3 games, and he caught up to 6-6 in the blink of an eye! Scores were closely tied at from 6 to 8-all, before the world number 1 came back to take the sixth game, 11-8!

Down to the final game, the 25-year-old gave it his all, as he seemed to have found his winning strategy yet again. Zhendong took the final game decisively with a 11-7 score margin, without giving his opponent any chance to ever take the lead at all.

(World No 1 Fan Zhendong. Photo Credit : WTT)

With the win, Zhendong claimed his 2nd trophy at the WTT Singapore Smash, having earlier won the Men’s Doubles title with team-mate Wang Chuqin just 2 days earlier! This also marks Zhendong’s 2nd Men’s Singles title in Singapore in recent months, after he won the WTT Cup Finals held at the same arena last December.

“For me, each time playing against Ma Long is a learning opportunity. There were a lot of challenges for me in today’s match, but I think the best part about my performance today was that I did not give up no matter how much I was trailing. Overall, I am very happy with my win in Singapore here tonight!”

With Zhendong's win, China made a clean sweep of all 5 championship titles on offer at the inaugural $2.7 Million WTT Singapore Smash! 

Pearlyn Koh has been playing Table Tennis competitively for 9 years. She’s currently a member of the National Team and had represented Singapore at several major tournaments, including the 2018 Asian Games and World Table Tennis Championships. In 2019, Pearlyn was also the sole Southeast Asian player to enter the Top 16 at the Asian Junior & Cadet Table Tennis Championships. During her free time, Pearlyn enjoys reading and catching up with her friends.