BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Three-time world champions Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha overcame an early deficit to reach the mixed doubles last eight on home soil at the World Table Tennis (WTT) China Smash on Tuesday.
Wang and Sun enjoyed a first-round bye at Beijing's Shougang Park. In their first match as a pair since they claimed the third straight title at the World Table Tennis Championships in Doha in May, the sixth seeds fell short 13-11 in the first game against Aditya Sareen of Australia and India's Yashaswini Ghorpade, before triumphing 11-4, 11-5, 11-7 to achieve a comeback.
"We haven't played for a long time on the international stage after the 2025 World Championships. In the first game, we didn't feel quite familiar with the match. However, we then made adjustments and found our rhythm. After this match, our familiarity will become better for the upcoming matches," Sun said in an on-court interview.
"The level of our familiarity with the game is not as good as it was before," Wang echoed. "However, our abilities have improved so far, and match after match, we will deliver better results."
The home favorites will face compatriots Chen Yuanyu and Kuai Man, who stunned top seeds Lim Jong-hoon and Shin Yu-bin of South Korea in full games.
Chinese pairs Yuan Licen/Wang Yidi and Huang Youzheng/Chen Yi also made it through to the quarterfinals, while Xue Fei and Qian Tianyi lost 3-1 to Brazilian duo Hugo Calderano and Bruna Takahashi. ■
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