Lubomir Pistej has made it to the men\u2019s singles main draw at a WTT Grand Smash for the first time in his career, after previously failing to navigate the qualifying rounds on 10 occasions, beating Deni Kozul 14-12, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8at the China Smash table tennis championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite having never made it to the singles main draw, Pistej has bags of WTT Grand Smash experience, playing in the men\u2019s doubles 11 times and another 12 appearances in the mixed doubles. His best appearance at this level was a run to the men\u2019s doubles quarterfinals at Saudi Smash 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His singles experience, however, hadn\u2019t quite lived up to that standard, with his personal best a qualifying round 3 finish at Singapore Smash 2022, the first-ever WTT Grand Smash. After that, he had only made it as far as the second round and was eliminated in the first six times.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But all runs, good or bad, must come to an end, and Pistej finally got the 5,000 USD payout that comes with a Round of 64 appearance by eliminating the No.14 seed Kozul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Slovak Republic\u2019s Pistej saved two game points to take the opener. Pistej regained the lead after Kozul won Game Two, and the match looked destined to go to a decider when Slovenia\u2019s Kozul went up 7-1 in the fourth. But Pistej got the job done in emphatic style, hitting eight points in a row to make the main draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One player who could seriously rock the boat in the women\u2019s singles main draw is China\u2019s Zhu Sibing, who navigated all three of her qualifying matches without dropping a game, beating Lam Yee Lok in Saturday night\u2019s match 11-5, 11-9, 11-4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sibing, 26, shot up the world rankings 39 places to World No.95 last month by going through the qualifying rounds of WTT Star Contender Astana 2026 and then beating Adriana Diaz 3-2 in the round of 32.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a great run of form behind her and full of confidence after beating a Top 20 player, don\u2019t be surprised if Sibing brings more upsets to Shougang Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the final round of qualifying matches, Han Feier was the only one of six Chinese female players not to make the main draw, and that\u2019s because she faced teammate Fan Shuhan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shuhan’s 14-12, 11-8, 6-11, 11-9 win means 16 Chinese players will feature in the women\u2019s singles main draw, and one of them is Liu Ziling, a 15-year-old rising star who beat Zauresh Akasheva 12-10, 15-13, 11-4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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