Shi Xunyao (Photo WTT)
Wildcard Shi Xunyao added to the chaos of a crazy Friday by knocking out WTT Champions Chongqing No.3 seed Chen Xingtong 7-11, 11-4, 11-7, 13-11.
These two met in the Round of 16 in Hong Kong last year, where Xingtong won 4-2. But this time, it was Xunyao’s turn for revenge, as she came back from one game down to set up a quarterfinal clash with No.8 seed Miwa Harimoto.
Xunyao’s stunning upset came after a crazy evening in Chongqing that started with a five-game epic between Chen Yi and Bernadette Szocs.
This match was decided by the finest of margins, and fans saw a stunning six game points before the Romanian saved four match points in the decider only to be beaten 11-8, 11-13, 12-10, 7-11, 11-9.
Chen Yi was 8-3 to the good in the first game, but Szocs started to build momentum, closing the gap to 9-8. While she still lost the opener, the Romanian had grown confident by exposing Chen Yi’s weaknesses and getting back in the game.
Szocs then went 0-2 up, and then refused to be disheartened when she went 5-2 down to recover to 7-7. But as the game ticked closer to its deciding moment, Szocs grew frustrated at her own mistakes, hitting the ground when conceding. But Chen Yi, who had also made several errors, looked nervous, and she allowed Szocs to get the game’s first, second and then third Game Point, before she drew the match level.
At 10-6 in the third, no one was thinking that Szocs could overturn this one, but the tenacious former World No.8 started to chip away and saved two Game Points, forcing Chen Yi to use her Time Out. Szocs then stunned the crowd into silence as she returned to the table and saved two more, forcing deuce. When Chen Yi eventually won the game, the World No.7 let out a scream of relief as Szocs sank to her knees.
But again, Szocs was refusing to die, and she went 4-0 up in the must-win fourth and held on to force the final game.
You could cut the tension inside Infinity ∞ Arena with a knife at this point, and the question was whether Chen Yi could weather the storm, as Szocs had momentum in her corner.
Five in a row for the World No.7 took her to 5-2, and she was cheering every single point now, while Szocs was growing frustrated and started shouting and slapping balls away when she conceded.
She had good reason to be angry; the match was slipping away from her when she had fought so hard to remain in it. But that anger spurred her on, and more drama was yet to come, as she saved a stunning four Game Points before eventually losing 11-9.
Meanwhile, Miwa prevailed in a battle that put two of table tennis’s rising stars against each other, as she beat 19-year-old Anna Hursey 13-11, 12-10, 11-7.
Despite the straight-game victory, Hursey made life tough for the 17-year-old, with only eight points separating them, and Miwa had to save three game points to get over the line in the second.
Hursey has enjoyed a strong start to the season and, earlier this month, reached the final of WTT Feeder Dusseldorf 2026. But ultimately, she was unable to surpass Miwa, who, despite her age, has four years of professional experience and eight WTT Senior titles.
The event’s No.1 seed Sun Yingsha looked at her absolute best on Friday, as she produced a devastating straight games win against Adriana Diaz, dumping the Puerto Rican 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 in just 25 minutes.
After cruising through the opening game, where Yingsha was at one point leading 8-1, the World No.1 then overturned a 3-6 deficit in the second, hitting seven on the bounce to set up four game points. Sun then ramped it up further in the third, powering home six consecutive points to beat Diaz without dropping a game for the first time.
Another player who looks in fantastic form in Chongqing is Satsuki Odo. The Japanese star followed her stunning 3-0 victory over Wang Manyu in the Round of 32 with another win, this time needing four games to get past Chinese Taipei’s Cheng I-Ching 9-11, 11-3, 16-14, 11-9.
That victory could be a positive omen for Odo, who has faced I-Ching twice before on the WTT Series, winning in the semifinals of WTT Champions Montpellier 2024 and WTT Star Contender Chennai 2026, and then going on to triumph in the final.
In the men’s singles, Hugo Calderano survived a scare, as Tomislav Pucar saved eight match points before the Brazilian finally got over the line 11-9, 7-11, 11-3, 19-17.
“Yeah, it was definitely great to win the Mixed Doubles title back in Singapore with Bruna. It was great. Actually, in singles, I haven’t been playing at my best at the beginning of the year. But not too bad as well. I think I’m just trying to get into my form, playing well here in Chongqing, so looking forward to my next match,” said Calderano.
Meanwhile, Dang Qiu pulled off a stunning comeback, battling from two games down to beat Liang Jingkun 7-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-8.
Heading into this match, there were signs that this one could go the distance, as these two had played each other twice before on the WTT Series, with Dang Qiu coming back from 2-1 down on both occasions.
China’s Jingkun was ruthless in the opening two games, capitalising on Dang Qiu’s slow start to the match to move within touching distance of a spot in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
But Dang Qiu gave himself a lifeline with a bright start to the third, racing to a 7-2 lead before taking it. The German just needed to win one more game to force a decider, but Jingkun was fighting tooth and nail to avoid it, and when leading 7-9, looked destined for a spot in the last eight.
However, the WTT Star Contender London 2025 champion Dang Qiu rallied off four points in dramatic fashion.
And what a game the fifth one turned out to be, with Jingkun holding onto the narrowest of leads at 1-2 before Dang Qiu came bounding back to lead 5-2. Cheered on by the thousands of fans, Jingkunlevelled the scores. By this point, both players had used their time-outs, and the winner would be decided by who could find the winning formula first.
“I mean, he’s a phenomenal player, he’s one of the greats. I think it depends on me, when I can reach my top level, a certain high level, only then can I compete with him. Otherwise, you can see the first two sets when I was struggling to come into the match, the match rhythm, he was controlling the whole game, it could easily go 3-0 for him. Yeah, somehow I’m also a player who is slow starting, time to time, but whenever I get a groove into the match, I feel more comfortable, I find solutions, and I feel my quality is good enough that I can make a comeback, and I’m happy I could make it today,” said Dang Qiu
That turned out to be Qiu, who smashed another four points to lead 9-5. Liang kept fighting and saved one Game Point, but was unable to halt Qiu’s momentum, who will face Wen Ruibo in the quarterfinal.
