Roundup: Top seeds of singles fall out, Chinese paddlers win mixed at Asian champs

WUXI, East China, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Jeong Sang Eun and Miu Hirano came out the most surprising dark horses at the Asian Table Tennis Championships so far as they respectively ousted world No. 1 male and female paddlers Ma Long and Ding Ning here on Friday.

Jeong, a Chinese-born South Korean, forced a decisive fifth set from top-ranked Ma in the men's singles third round, winning eventually 11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 11-6.

The 28-year-old Ma, who had not lost a single match in international competitions since the Rio Olympic Games, blamed a false serve mark he received when leading 3-0 in the fourth set but admitted Jeong had a bold and patient play.

"Players from South Korea are strong opponents as always," he said. "The actual margin between top male players are not as big as people have imagined."

"Today I had some luck but I was mentally calm and stable," commented Jeong.

The Korean, 27, then continued with his strong show, beating Jiang Tianyi of Hong Kong, China, 6-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9 in the evening to reach the quarters.

Apart from the surprise loss of captain Ma Long, the Chinese women's skipper Ding Ning produced another unexpected exit in the evening's singles quarterfinals, losing in full sets to teenage sensation Hirano.

The 17-year-old Japanese, winning 3-11, 12-14, 11-9, 16-14, 12-10 over the top-seeded Ding, was too excited to stand on her feet after coming back from two sets down and beating a Chinese for the first time in her career.

"I can't believe that I beat the Olympic champion. It's like a dream," said the 2016 World Cup winner who took the title on the absence of the Chinese players. "The victory is the best birthday gift ever!"

The world No. 11 even told a mixed zone interview that her long term target is to win both the women's singles and team event at the coming 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

In other actions of the day, all other Chinese won over their non-Chinese opponents as Xu Xin, Zhang Jike, Fan Zhendong and Lin Gaoyuan reached the men's singles quarterfinals, Chen Meng, Liu Shiwen and Zhu Yuling entered the women's singles last four while Wu Yang was stopped by teammate Zhu.

In the doubles play, all four pairs from the hosts survived, with Fan Zhendong/Lin Gaoyuan, Fang Bo/Zhou Yu reaching the men's semis and Zhu Yuling/Chen Meng, Wang Manyu/Chen Ke in the women's last four.

Late in the evening, China's Zhou Yu and Chen Xingtong claimed the 15th mixed doubles title of the continental tourney for China.

The local favorite duo denied a late comeback from Japanese pair Masataka Morizono and Mima Ito 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8.