Chinese Stars Clinically Advance to Last 16 at WTT Singapore Smash

Chinese players dominated the second day of main-draw action Monday at the 2026 World Table Tennis Singapore Smash," reads the match summary after a string of wins on Feb. 23 and follow-up round-of-32 victories on Feb. 25 in Singapore. Sun Yingsha, Shi Xunyao, Kuai Man, Wang Yidi and a clutch of men’s singles names all advanced into the last 16 as the tournament moved into midweek play.

On Feb. 23 Huang Youzheng beat India’s Manav Thakkar 3-1, Xiang Peng defeated Egypt’s Youssef Abdelaziz 3-1, and Chen Yuanyu edged Slovenia’s Darko Jorgic 3-2 in a five-game thriller. In the women’s draw world No. 1 Sun Yingsha defeated Thailand’s Orawan Paranang 3-1 and was set to face Romania’s Elizabeta Samara next; He Zhuojia beat Chinese Taipei’s Yeh Yi-tian 3-1 while Kuai Man, Shi Xunyao and Wang Yidi each advanced in straight games against Annett Kaufmann, Gaia Monfardini and Joo Cheon-hui respectively.

The remaining round-of-32 matches on Feb. 25 confirmed China’s depth. Sun followed up by beating Elizabeta Samara 3-1. Chen Yuanyu added a 3-1 win over Poland’s Milosz Redzimski, and Xiang Peng swept an all-Chinese clash with Huang Youzheng 3-0. Shi Xunyao blanked Lily Zhang of the United States 3-0, Wang Yidi beat Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong 3-1, and Kuai Man defeated Wales’ Anna Hursey 3-1 to join the last 16.

Chinese pairs also made their mark in doubles and mixed play. Lin Shidong and Huang beat Germany’s Benedikt Duda and Dang Qiu 3-2 in men’s doubles. Kuai Man and Chen Yi reached the women’s doubles semifinals with a 3-1 victory over South Korea’s Kim Na-yeong and Ryu Han-na. Mixed doubles offered a starker result for the Chinese pair: Huang paired with Chen Yi fell 0-3 to Chan Baldwin of Hong Kong and a South Korean player listed only as Kim, missing out on a semifinal berth.

The progression highlights contrasting match narratives across the Chinese contingent. Chen Yuanyu’s 3-2 win over Darko Jorgic stood out as the lone five-set tussle in a sea of straight-game and 3-1 victories; the phrasing in reporting noted that "Chen edged Slovenia’s Darko Jorgic 3-2 in a five-game thriller." Multiple match reports explicitly identified Sun Yingsha as "women’s world No. 1" while a site navigation snippet elsewhere carried "World No 1 Wang Chuqin," a rank label that does not appear in the match summaries and points to an inconsistency in accompanying metadata.

Players named in available reports who are confirmed in the last-16 field include Sun Yingsha, Xiang Peng, Chen Yuanyu, Huang Youzheng, Kuai Man, Shi Xunyao, Wang Yidi and He Zhuojia, while Lin Shidong and Huang produced a key men’s doubles win and Kuai and Chen Yi pushed on in women’s doubles. As the Singapore Smash moves deeper into the knockout phase, those names set the framing for the tournament’s next round of matchups and the immediate test of China’s squad depth in both singles and doubles.