by Simon Daish
Korea dares to dream
Producing a mighty upset to knock top seed Fan Zhendong out of the tournament, in the men’s singles semi-finals Jeoung Youngsik will look to send the home crowd into rapturous applause once again as he takes on three-time World champion Ma Long from 10.00am local time.
The 27-year-old Korean player is yet to register a victory over ‘The Dragon’ on the world stage in seven previous encounters, but could that be about to change in Busan?
Youth vs Experience
Once the first winner of the day has been decided we have two generational battles to enjoy, the first of which sees 19-year-old Wang Chuqin go up against Xu Xin, 29. Never before have these two met face-to-face on the ITTF World Tour but will know each other well as members of Team China – this should turn out to be an intriguing affair!
Then it’s time for the first of two women’s singles semi-final fixtures as Ding Ning, 29, and Sun Yingsha, 18, go head-to-head at approximately 11.40am. Ding has been the victor in both of her previous two matches with Sun but the latter player has been highly impressive in recent weeks and will be out to make a statement on day four.
Looking to buck the trend
Wang Manyu has three wins to her name against fellow compatriot Chen Meng but has lost the last six head-to-head meetings with the World no.1. Find out if she can bring her long run of defeats to an end in the concluding semifinal of the day.
Following a break in play the men’s singles champion will be decided from 5.00pm, preceding the women’s singles final which is scheduled to get underway around 6.00pm.
