The all-Chinese match-up featured the top two seeds, but it was world No1 Liu Shiwen who got the best of her Olympic champion opponent 4-1 (11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 14-12, 11-3) Saturday at Dubai World Trade Centre.
Liu Shiwen won the first two games before Li Xiaoxia fought back by taking game three and then got within a point of tying the match at two-all in the fourth game. Li Xiaoxia couldn’t capitalise though and after Liu Shiwen earned the tiebreaker, the fifth game was more of a formality.
As well as qualifying for her fifth World Cup, in which she’ll defend her title, Liu Shiwen also edges closer to a spot in the Olympics.
“Until the final day the (Olympics) list is finalised, I’ll just focus on myself, prepare and give the best for the coming matches, including open tournaments in the next three months,” she said.
“Hopefully, it will earn me the chance to go to the Olympics.”
The Asian Cup remains one of the only major titles Li Xiaoxia has yet to claim during her sparkling career, which has featured a gold medal in the 2012 Olympics. Saturday’s loss, she felt, was the outcome of one player just outperforming another.
She said: “Liu Shiwen performed very well. For me, I performed normal, but it’s not a surprising result.”
Earlier, reigning Asian Cup champion Feng Tianwei of Singapore settled for bronze by convincingly beating Hong Kong’s Tie Yana 4-0 (11-7, 11-3, 11-4, 11-6).
