Table Tennis World Cup: Feng Tianwei earns spot in semi-final while Wang Yuegu falls to top seed Li Xiaoxia

By Low Sze Sen/Red Sports

Toa Payoh Sports Hall, Saturday, 29 October, 2011 — Feng Tianwei narrowly beat Germany’s Wu Jiaduo 4-2 (11-6, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 4-11, 14-12) to earn a spot in the semi-finals of the 2011 Women’s Table Tennis World Cup. Compatriot Wang Yuegu however did not have as much luck as she fell to World Number One Li Xiaoxia 2-4 (12-10, 13-11, 5-11, 7-11, 7-11, 11-13) despite putting up a hard fight.

Backed by an 800-strong crowd, Wang raced off to a 4-0 lead, astounding the crowd which continuously rallied behind her. The first game was placed to a deuce which Wang won 12-10.

Wang won the next game to lead 2-0 but Li Xiaoxia pulled away thereafter. In the sixth game, Wang came close to drawing level. She saved four match points and pushed the World Number One into a deuce. However, she was unable to maximize on the momentum she had built up and bowed out of the competition 2-4.

Singapore had something to cheer about in the subsequent quarter-final as the Republic’s top seed took on Germany’s Wu Jiaduo.

Feng Tianwei won the first game with ease and went on to win the second game as expected by the crowd. Feng found little resistance from Wu Jiaduo as her early aggressive style kept her German opponent largely on the defensive.

What happened next was a see-saw struggle in which both players took a game each starting with Wu Jiaduo in the third game. By the time the German won the fifth game to trail 2-3, the crowd had become noticeably edgy with frequent calls to the Singaporean paddler to persevere. Wu managed to open up a lead of several valuable points in the sixth game. Feng Tianwei was forced to claw her way back and managed to bring the game into a deuce before finally overcoming her opponent 14-12.

Wu used her high toss serve successfully, winning many crucial points in the match that saw her mount a comeback. However, Feng kept her nerve and rewarded her faithful supporters with more to cheer as she faces World Number Two Ding Ning in the semi-final.