Wang Chuqin Wins the Macao World Cup in an Incredibly Hard-Fought 4-3
Like it or not, Wang Chuqin ground out a hard and tenacious victory to claim the Macao World Cup men’s singles title — 4-3 over the ferociously talented 18-year-old Japanese player Harimoto Sora.
The world moves fast. Last year at the same Macao World Cup, Hugo Calderano showcased violent aesthetics to their fullest: 4-3 in the semifinals to come back against Wang Chuqin, then 4-1 to cruise past Lin Shidong in the final, leaving us all wondering how table tennis could even be played like that — just pure, raw aggression.
Nobody expected that a year later, Hugo’s aggression would be completely contained by Wang Chuqin’s control, and that last year’s runner-up Lin Shidong would have dropped too many matches and picked up an injury. Instead, the final was crashed by another, even younger player. That backhand — savage, lightning-fast, combined with explosive footwork. Absolutely unreasonable.
Wang Chuqin: Q968, Neo National Blue Hurricane, Hurricane 8-20 National Special
Harimoto Sora: Fan Zhendong ALC Special, D09c, Z03
Game 1: Wang Chuqin 9-11 Harimoto Sora. Tactically, the approach was to attack from Harimoto’s forehand side while also targeting his mid-body. Nothing wrong with that strategy — but this kid has been improving so much lately, moving fast, his forehand keeping up and hitting hard. With that special blade seemingly in its prime right now, barely drops anything, massive support under his shots.
What does “good support” mean in a blade? On one hand, you can hear it. On the other, the harder you hit it, the more it stays on the table. By comparison, the Q968 had some inexplicable drops. High deformation is a strength of the 968 series, but on support, this game I felt it fell short of the Butterfly special.
Also, the World Cup uses seamless balls, and Hurricane 3 has never been the best answer for those. We see Fan Zhendong switching to D09c on the forehand in the Bundesliga and Champions League — that’s not without reason.
Game 2: Wang Chuqin wins 18-16 — a critically important game. Even though Z03 always gives the impression of controlling Hurricane 3, the ball is still ultimately played by a human. I couldn’t help but admire Wang Chuqin’s tenacity.
Game 3: Wang Chuqin was leading by a wide margin when he nearly got turned around. Harimoto looked emotional but unbelievably ripped off several backhand smashes in a row to string together points. That backhand is just too strong — overall you still need to direct toward Harimoto’s forehand side. Fortunately he held on.
The next two games, Harimoto put on a backhand display that was simply breathtaking — very few errors, heavy ball quality, protecting the middle while showing no obvious weakness.
Game 6, down 2-3, Wang Chuqin served to Harimoto’s forehand side, even grazing the edge line near his forehand half. And Harimoto still came over and flicked it with the backhand. Absolutely outrageous. Wang Chuqin had to attack more aggressively with his forehand — any moment of letting up and Harimoto was pressing forward with the backhand.
But Harimoto is still young. When the championship was so close, he got a little anxious, and it’s hard to stay calm and play every ball well.
Deciding game: Wang Chuqin varied his return patterns much more — he looked more seasoned than Harimoto. A champion can be ferocious, can be aggressive, but in the end victory belongs to the calmer one.
This night, Wang Chuqin won me over completely. The author who once wrote glowing tributes had no choice but to offer a thumbs-up.