A Hard-Won Title: 4-3, Wang Chuqin Becomes the New World Cup King
Whether you like it or not, Wang Chuqin, with difficulty and tenacity, won the Macau World Cup men’s singles. He beat the fierce-styled 18-year-old Japanese youth Sora Matsushima 4-3. It is not that I do not understand — it is that the world changes too fast. Last year, also at the Macau World Cup, Hugo displayed the aesthetics of violence to the full — reversing Wang Chuqin 4-3 in the semifinal, easily beating Lin Shidong 4-1 in the final, making us marvel that the ball could be played this way, too violent. Who knew that a year later, Hugo’s violence could not unfold under Wang Chuqin’s control, while the former runner-up Lin Shidong lost too many balls this past year and recently nursed an injury. This year’s final saw another, younger youth break through. That backhand — brutal, ultra-fast, with extremely strong quick-exchange. Truly unreasonable.
Wang Chuqin: Q968, Neo blue national Hurricane, Hurricane 8-20 national custom. Sora Matsushima: Fan Zhendong ALC custom, D09c, Z03.
First game, Wang Chuqin 9-11 Sora Matsushima. Tactically, mainly starting from Matsushima’s forehand while attacking his middle. That is fine, but this kid’s ball improved too much this stretch — flying movement, the forehand keeps up and is quite punchy. The custom in his hand seemed in its best-playing state, hard to drop the ball, with extremely full support. What is full blade support? On one hand, you can tell by sound. On the other, the more you fire, the more it lands. By comparison, this Q968 always had some inexplicable dropped balls. High deformation is the 968’s strength, but in support, this game I feel it is inferior to the Butterfly custom. And the World Cup uses the seamless ball; Hurricane playing this ball has never been the best answer. We see Fan Zhendong switch his forehand to D09c in the Bundesliga and Champions League — not without reason.
Second game, Wang Chuqin won 18-16, an extremely key game. Although the Z03 always gives us a sense of restraining the Hurricane, the ball is, after all, played by people. I have to admire Wang Chuqin’s toughness. Third game, Wang Chuqin, leading by a big margin, was nearly reversed. Matsushima seemed very emotional, yet incredibly ripped a few backhands for consecutive points. The backhand really is too dominant; Datou still had to receive to Matsushima’s forehand as much as possible. Fortunately he won this game. The next two games, Matsushima played jaw-dropping backhand power, with very few errors, heavy ball quality, and with the middle protected, no obvious holes.
Sixth game, already 2-3 down, Wang Chuqin served to Matsushima’s forehand, even several near the sideline of Matsushima’s forehand half. Even so, Matsushima came over and flicked with the backhand. Too absurd. Wang Chuqin could only rip with the forehand more; with any slack in the middle, Matsushima pressed forward with the backhand. But Matsushima is still young; when too close to the title, he got a bit anxious and could hardly settle to play each ball well. In the decider, Wang Chuqin’s receive was more varied, seeming more seasoned than Matsushima. A king can be fierce, can be violent, but the final victory ultimately belongs to the more composed one. This night, Wang Chuqin won me over. The Heima who once wrote the “blot-out-the-sky” fanfic had to give a thumbs-up.