Women’s world No. 3 Mima ITO of Japan was the biggest casualty at Singapore Smash on Tuesday (15 March) falling 3-1 (5-11 11-7 11-8 11-7) to world No. 67 YUAN Jia Nan of France while men’s world No. 1 Fan Zhendong and Olympic champion Ma Long both survived scares to advance to the men’s singles quarter-finals at the OCBC Arena.
YUAN said of her performance against Ito: “I just wanted to do my best in the match and give a good fight because it was my first time playing against (Ito). Initially I was just concentrating on not losing 3-0 and was aiming to just win one game. After winning one game I told myself if I can win a second game that would be good. I didn’t have any specific strategy against her I just wanted to go out there and play my best and I didn’t expect that I would win.”
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