Yuling in pole position after Ning pullout; Ma Long cruises through

The women’s field at the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals was thrown wide open after defending champion Ding Ning of China withdrew from the event in Doha yesterday.Ning was scheduled to play Germany’s Han Ying in the quarter-finals at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena, but the world and Olympic champion was forced to pull out as she suffered from a high temperature.The absence of Ning very much opens up the top half of the draw, with Zhu Yuling, also of China, now the highest ranked player in the tournament. The world No. 4, who is in other half of the draw, yesterday sealed her spot in the semis.The 21-year-old is seeded third in Doha and the Chinese hopes firmly rest on her. Yuling, however, was given a stern test in the quarters by Chinese Taipei’s Cheng I-Ching before she won 4-2 (8-11, 10-12, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7).The No. 6 seed Ching won the first two games but dropped her level, giving Yuling a chance to make a recovery. And the Chinese needed no second initiation as she won four games on the trot to clinch the match.   Ching is one of the most improved players on the circuit, having jumped from No.22 to No. 7 in the world rankings. Against Yuling, she unleashed her strong forehand game to take a 2-0 lead but Yuling made some tactical changes to make a comeback.“She made many changes after the second game; especially with her service. She served short and I made mistakes. I am pleased with my level but disappointed to lose,” said Ching.Yuling on the other hand was relieved to have got through. “It was a hard match having to come back from two-nil down. Ching played very well today, the scores were tight and even in the third game, I could only take the game after 10-10,” the Chinese said.“I think winning the silver medal at the World Cup definitely was a big step in her career; she’s more confident on court, more experienced and is able to handle crucial points better. One reason why I lost in the first two games was because I wasn’t executing my strategy as planned. After that I was thinking of those points and how I could play those points to my favour,” Yuling added.Meanwhile, Han Ying will play the winner of the quarter-final match between Japanese teen Miu Hirano and Hong Kong’s Tie Yana, which is scheduled for today afternoon.Yesterday, world No. 11 Hirano, the ninth seed in the tournament upset world No. 6 and fourth seed Feng Tianwei of Singapore in the round of 16. Tianwei made a bright start but eventually lost 3-4 (11-6, 11-4, 9-11, 6-11, 11-7, 5-11, 4-11)Tianwei was one of the fancied players in the tournament, having defeated Ding Ning in the Chinese Super League last weekend. The 30-year-old was expected to make a strong bid for the sport’s biggest prize but fizzled out against Hirano in the last two games.Tianwei, the 2010 champion, had come out firing in her match against the Japanese teenager, claiming the first two games 11-6, 11-4. But the 16-year-old proved to be no walkover, as she clawed back to win the next two games 11-9, 11-6.While Tianwei looked ready to claim victory after winning the fifth game (11-7), the veteran player could not fend off the challenge from her plucky young opponent, as Hirano turned on the heat to level the score at 3-3 before winning the seventh and final game 11-4.With her victory over three-time Olympic medallist Feng in Doha, Hirano looks set to cement her reputation as a player to watch out for in the future. In the last quarter-final today, Yang Haeun of South Korea will take on Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa.  Meanwhile, men’s defending champion Ma Long cruised into the semis yesterday. The Chinese was in supreme form as he dispatched Wong Chun Ting of Hong Kong 4-0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-6, 11-5).The World No. 1 Ma Long, also the Olympic champion in Rio, hardly put a foot wrong not even giving Chun Ting a sniff.Up next for Ma Long in the semifinal today is Jung Young-sik of Korea. In the last eight, Young-sik beat Chuang Chih-Yuan of Chinese Taipei 4-2 (11-13, 10-12, 11-6, 11-7, 12-10, 11-1).The other two spots in the semis will be decided today, when Xu Xin of China takes on Japan’s Yuto Muramatsu, while Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov meets Fan Zhendong of China.Earlier, the No.8 seed Ovcharov had beaten Hong Kong’s Tang Peng, the No.14 seed, in five games (11-9, 11-5, 13-15, 14-12, 11-6) to reserve his place in the quarter-finals.The second seed Zhendong accounted for Japan’s Koki Niwa, the No.15 seed 4-1 (11-6, 11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 11-4) and Xu Xin, the No.3 seed, defeated 11th seeded Chinese Taipei’s Chen Chien-An 4-0 (11-8, 11-11, 11-6, 11-8).