Martin Allegro-Adrien Rassenfosse (Photo WTT)
Belgian duo Martin Allegro-Adrien Rassenfosse knocked out Singapore Smash table tennis championships men’s doubles top seeds Lim Jonghoon-An Jaehyun 7-11, 13-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8.
Jonghoon-Jaehyun are the sports heavyweights, having lifted titles at United States Smash, WTT Star Contender Ljubljana and WTT Star Contender Chennai last year.
Their opening match at this year’s Singapore Smash put them against the World No.15 from Belgium, whom they had a 100 per cent record against going into the match.
Jonghoon-Jaehyun went behind four times in the opening exchanges before finding their groove to score six of the next eight points and get the first game win. The Korean players then saved three game points as they tried desperately not to let Allegro-Rassenfosse back into the tie, but those efforts were in vain as the newly crowned WTT Feeder Cappadocia champions levelled.
Game Three could have gone either way as Allegro-Rassenfosse saw a 9-6 lead crumble, but they recovered by putting in the most dominant game of the match, going 5-0 up before again levelling the tie.
Allegro-Rassenfosse could smell victory when they gained an 8-4 advantage, only for a late surge to bring it to 8-8 and set up a dramatic finish. The Belgian’s ended it in style, hitting three points on the spin to move to the quarterfinals.
Another upset took place in the men’s doubles as that match was going on, but not one most fans inside The Kallang would have wanted to see, as Singapore’s No.4 seeds Koen Pang-Izaac Quek also lost in five games, bowing out to Horacio Cifuentes-Santiago Lorenzo.
Cifuentes-Lorenzo were ready for battle from the off, saving two game points before losing the first. But they got another shot at that in the second, again saving two game points, but this time getting over the line. The Argentines dominated the fourth game, twice hitting four points in a row to set up a decider. A nervy finish saw Pang-Quek save match point before the South Americans sealed their spot in the quarterfinals.
Host Singapore, however, had something to cheer. Chloe Lai-Loy Ming Ying made history in front of the home crowd defeating Yangzi Liu- Yuan Wan 4-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-9, 11-3 to become the first-ever Singaporean pair to reach a women’s doubles quarterfinal at WTT Grand Smash level.
Aged just 18 and 15 respectively, Lai-Ming Ying had captured the hearts of local spectators all week at The Kallang, endearing themselves to the Singapore faithful with their incredible story at Singapore Smash.
There was magic in the air on Tuesday night as the Singapore teens dared to dream the impossible, but with the scores sitting at 1-2 in their opponents’ favour, their unforgettable week appeared to had run its course.
But not so. Remarkably, the fairy-tale was kept alive as Lai-Ming Ying staged the most unlikely of comebacks, soaking up the applause from the stands as two of Singapore’s brightest young sparks put their names in the WTT history books.
The girls could hardly contain their excitement after the match, realising their Singapore Smash journey would continue another day, almost in disbelief that they had managed to get over the line.
Lai-Ming Ying will have the opportunity to extend their dream run further on Wednesday morning when they return to action against No.3 seeds Miwa Harimoto-Hina Hayata, this time on Infinity ∞ Arena.
