On October 3, Beijing time, in the 2024 WTT China Grand Slam men's singles 1/8 finals, Japan's Tomokazu Zhang lost 2-3 to Sweden's Moregard, with three game scores: 13-15, 11-9, 4-11, 11-6, 11-13. The Japanese table tennis men's singles were wiped out.
Moregard was hailed as the "anti-Japanese pioneer" in this Chinese Grand Slam, he easily eliminated Yoshimura Maharu 3-0 in the first round, he narrowly defeated Japan's new ace Matsushima Teruku 3-2 in the second round, and she met Japan's No. 1 table tennis player Tomokazu Zhang in the third round.
There are only three people left in the five events of Japanese table tennis: men's singles, women's singles, women's doubles, men's doubles, and mixed doubles, and they are all singles - Tomokazu Zhangmoto, Misei Ito, and Mamoru Mori Sakura. However, he did not meet the national table tennis players in the first three rounds.
In the first game, Zhang Benzhihe and Moregard played very closely, the two fought from 1-1 to 8-8, Moregard once led 9-8, Moregard 10-9 after the game point Zhang Benzhihe continued to save the game point, 10-11, 11-12, 12-13, 13-14, and finally Moregard won 15-13 with difficulty, Zhang Ben has saved 5 game points.
In the second game, Zhang Benzhihe opened 2-1 lead, and then Zhang Benzhihe continued to lead 4-2, this game Zhang Ben controlled very well, played 9-7 to continue to lead, Moregard chased 9-10, Zhang Benzhi and 11-9 pulled back a game.
In the third game, Zhang Ben's state was excellent and he was directly 5-1, Moregard chased it to 2-5, Zhang Benzhihe expanded his advantage 7-2, and Zhang Ben won the third game 11-4.
In the fourth game, Moregard also increased his spin and quality, leading 5-2 in the opening game, and soon 8-3, Zhang Ben chased it to 6-9, and Moregard made it 2-2 at 11-9.
The two of them were 2-2 in the deciding game, Moregard led 3-2, then 5-4, Zhang Benzhihe equalized 5-5, this game was a very exciting stalemate, Moregard continued to lead 7-6, Zhang Ben chased 9-9, Zhang Ben took the lead 10-9, Moregard saved a match point, and finally Moregard won 13-11.
Text/Yan Xiaobai: Ping Pong observation