PARIS, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- World No. 1 Fan Zhendong is set to meet teammate Lin Gaoyuan in the semifinals at the 2018 ITTF Men's World Cup as the two Chinese paddlers saw off respective opponents here on Saturday.
The tournament's final four spots were unsurprisingly taken up by four top-seeded paddlers, with the other semifinal on Sunday played between Germans Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Timo Boll.
Fan, the 2016 winner, powered past the 42-year-old Belarusian legend Vladimir Samsonov 11-3, 11-6, 12-10, 11-6.
"I had a good start in every game, which made it easier for me later on," commented Fan.
"I didn't play for a while against him. I didn't expect that he is so good. I know that he is world No. 1, but he played so well, so fast, so aggressive," admitted Samsonov.
"Maybe I had a very small chance of winning one game, in the third, but the last two points, he played well, and I had no chances.
"He was very concentrated from the first point. It was very important for me to not lose so quickly and try to get into the game, but it didn't really happen," Samsonov added.
Lin faced tougher challenges from Japan's Niwa Koki as the two paddlers split the first two games.
After Lin bagged a 12-10 victory in the first game, he was responded by Niwa 11-5 in the second.
Lin triumphed in the third game tussle 14-12. He never conceded his advantage thereafter and took away the following two games 11-9, 11-5.
"I don't feel any burden now, so I just try to motivate myself tomorrow," Lin talked about his upcoming encounter with teammate.
"They are quite familiar with each other. They need to fully prepare for possible difficulties in the match," commented world champion Wang Hao, Fan's coach during the tournament.
Defending champion Ovtcharov underwent another seven-game thriller to overcome South Korean Lee Sang-su 11-7, 11-5, 11-13, 9-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-5.
The 2002 and 2005 champion Boll, 37, recovered from one game down to eliminate the 15-year-old Japanese Harimoto Tomokazu 9-11, 11-3, 13-11, 11-5, 11-9.
