In his first tournament appearance since the Paris Olympics European champion Dang Qiu delivered a world-class performance to reach the semifinals of the $800 000 WTT Champions Macao (9th to 15th September). The player from Düsseldorf defeated China’s world number four LIANG Jingkun who was seeded second. The opponent for the world number 13 in Saturday’s semifinal will be decided in the afternoon match between Truls MÖREGARDH (Sweden) and KAO Cheng-Jui (Taiwan).
The duel between the German and the Chinese player in Macau was a repeat of the 2023 WTT Finals quarterfinals with many similarities to the encounter in Doha. Just like in January Dang QIU emerged victorious with a 3:2 win against LIANG Jingkun. As in Qatar LIANG Jingkun started off strong taking the first set in rapid fashion with an 11:2 scoreline. However Dang QIU launched an impressive comeback and deservedly won after five sets. This was the fourth meeting between the two players with QIU now having secured his second win over the Chinese player.
After his brilliant tactical display QIU commented:
“Liang overwhelmed me in the first set just like in Doha. I was briefly worried it might end quickly today. But then I found my rhythm and a good strategy against him and I played better and better. That was a very strong performance from me.”
