The Chinese team made up of world number 1 Liu Shiwen, and two Grand Slam champions in Ding Ning and LI Xiaoxia, smashed their way into the final, with a convincing 3-0 victory over Singapore.
Despite Feng Tianwei’s brave performance in the opening match, the world number four lost 0-3 against Xiaoxia in the opening match, which was crucial if Singapore was going to repeat their 2010 World Team Championships final victory over China.
“It’s not an easy match, I had to catch up for two of the games. I didn’t expect to win 3-0, I was just trying to playing each match to the best I can,” said Xiaoxia.
“The preparation process is grueling. We didn’t play any matches yesterday, so we were preparing the whole day, you don’t know what exactly will happen on court, the only thing we could do is to be positive and enjoy the process. It was better after we came on court.
“Tianwei and I played in the same club in the Chinese Super League for years, and we won the Gold few time together, off court, we are good friends. After I lost the singles final, she also texted me to show encouragement. It’s normal for us, that we remain good friends off the table, but we compete our best level on court, that’s the beauty of competitive sports.”
In the second match, 22-year-old Zhou Yihan managed to secure a game against Ning, but the world number two’s class prevailed in the end, winning 3-1 to put China in a commanding 2-0 position.
China’s devastating performance continued in the doubles where Shiwen and Ning outclassed the Singaporean pair of Yu Mengyu and Yihan to advance into Wednesday’s final showdown.
On China’s match against Germany, Xiaoxia added: “I have full faith in our team, of course we want to win, but thinking is not enough, so we have to go back and study the Germany team thoroughly.
“The overall strength of the German team is strong with the line-up of Han Ying, Shan Xiaona and Petrissa Solja, so we have thought that they will reach the final. For our team, it doesn’t matter who our opponent is, we just have to play our best.
“The Women’s Team final might be the last time I’m representing my country to compete. My goal will be to win, but the most important thing to show my best self on court.”
Singapore must now regroup before their bronze medal match against Japan.
