Lin turns tables on Fan favourite for first big championship

Fan was the crowd favourite and the higher-ranked player this time, but Lin got his revenge — five years later — notching up a 7-11, 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5 win.

Fan Zhendong and Lin Gaoyuan know each other from a long time back. The pair first faced each other in the final of the 2012 Junior World Table Tennis Championships in Hyderabad. Lin was the prodigy back then, having reached the final for the third consecutive time. Only for the 15-year-old Fan, an unknown entity two years Lin’s junior, to win the title.

The two never crossed paths again at an ITTF international event, until they made their way to the final of the ongoing Asian Cup in Ahmedabad. Fan was the crowd favourite and the higher-ranked player this time, but Lin got his revenge — five years later — notching up a 7-11, 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5 win.

Back when they first met at the junior level, the match was expected to be the first of a fierce rivalry. But it never materialised. While Fan went on to dominate the professional circuit, reaching the world no. 2 spot he has never relinquished since November 2015, Lin — though 29th in the world — has been a journeyman by Chinese standards. So much so that he never reached a final of any world tour event. Until his second international meeting with Fan on Sunday.

At the TransStadia table tennis hall, Lin had no pressure of expectations. “I had a very good mindset, and didn’t have too much burden,” he says after the win. “I had lost to Fan again in the Chinese nationals two weeks ago, so there wasn’t anything for me to lose.”

Fan rattled

On tour, Lin has developed a reputation of being a quick and flamboyant left-hander, with the tendency of playing risky shots to finish off a rally early.

He didn’t change much in his playing style in the final. The 22-year-old attempted winners off his early shots in a rally, aiming at the gaps while later mixing up his strokes with powerfully-driven body shots. The tactic broke Fan’s consistency, and the recently crowned World Championships silver medallist resorted to rushing through points himself — making errors.

It’s how he lost the match itself, lunging forward to meet Lin’s serve, only for the forehand return to fall well away from the table. He had tried something similar a few points earlier as well.

Trailing 8-5 in the sixth game, Fan reached forward to make a quick return, but failed to read the spin and hit his shot wide.

A point to remember

The next point he managed to get his return in play, but Lin was prepared. The rally — an exchange that had both players trading aggressive topspin strokes across the table — was the longest in the match lasting 16 shots. All the while, Fan was being pushed further away from the table as Lin cannoned full-blooded forehand returns across the net. It ended when Fan hit into the net to set up match point.

“I watched Fan’s videos and executed my tactics accordingly. I was very determined,” Lin says. This was Lin’s first major final in five years. In between, he was considered to be the next big name to emerge after he challenged the likes of Zhang Jike, Xu Xin, Ma Long, and now Fan himself.

And being a southpaw, legendary Chinese player and former national coach Liu Guoliang likened Lin to another left-hander, 2006 Asian Games champion Hao Shuai.

“I want to surpass Hao Shuai, not just be compared to him,” he adds. Winning the Asian Cup in his first attempt (Fan has now lost all three finals he’s reached in the tournament) is the start he might have been looking for.

Zhu Yuling wins women’s title

Before Lin could script his upset, the women’s singles final was another all-Chinese affair. World no. 3 Zhu Yuling took former world no 1 Liu Shiwen the distance in the best-of-seven final, eventually winning 6-11, 11-9, 11-8, 10-12, 11-7, 11-13, 11-6.

This was the 19th time the pair had met in a major competition, with Zhu winning the last encounter as well, in the semifinals of the World Championships in June. Head-to-head, Liu still leads 12-5.

The 22-year-old Zhu picked up the title in her first appearance at the tournament, while Liu, who won gold in the team event at the Rio Olympics last year, was gunning for a record fifth Asian Cup.