Sun Yingsha Beats Shi Xunyao, Faces Hina Hayata for Third Singapore Smash

World No. 1 and top seed Sun Yingsha moved into the quarterfinals of the WTT Singapore Smash at The Kallang after a 11-2, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6 win over 14th-seeded compatriot Shi Xunyao in a match that took a little more than 35 minutes, according to coverage tied to the event’s late Feb 2026 schedule. Sun, the defending champion who lifted Singapore Smash trophies in 2023 and 2025, is now set to face Japan’s Hina Hayata in the last eight.

Sun reflected on Shi’s strengths after the round-of-16 victory, saying, “I actually know Shi quite well. Looking at her recent form and results, I think she has been relatively consistent and always had great ability. Her quality on both sides, as well as her counterattacks, are really strong.” She added specifics on her own match rhythm: “I got into my rhythm quickly in the first game. I had some issues at the start of the second, but in the next two games, I kept reminding myself to fight for every point. And I managed to pull off the win.”

Hayata earned the right to face Sun by edging fifth-seeded Kuai Man 11-7, 12-10, 4-11, 7-11, 13-11 in a five-game thriller that removed Kuai Man, rated as world No. 5 in coverage of the tournament, as the only Chinese casualty mentioned among the day’s women’s matches. Hayata is referred to in event reporting as world No. 10, setting up a high-stakes quarterfinal between two top-10 players and a potential tactical test between Sun’s defense-to-attack game and Hayata’s aggressive timing.

China’s women still feature heavily in the last eight, with Chen Yi disposing of Honoka Hashimoto in straight games to set up a quarterfinal clash with third-seeded Chen Xingtong, and with Wang Yidi and Wang Manyu also reported among the five-strong Chinese contingent into the quarterfinals. The earlier main-draw day of action on Feb. 23 saw Sun beat Thailand’s Orawan Paranang and a host of Chinese players including Huang Youzheng, Xiang Peng, Chen Yuanyu, He Zhuojia, Kuai Man, Shi Xunyao and Wang Yidi advance, according to the event’s main-draw listings.

On the men’s side, 20-year-old Chen Yuanyu produced a headline upset by beating second-seeded Hugo Calderano 6-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-9 to reach the last eight, where he is lined up to face Swedish fifth-seeded Truls Moregard. That result underlined the tournament’s early volatility and the depth emerging from younger players in Singapore.

A truncated WorldTableTennis fragment that mentions Sun in a “semifinal against Chen Yi” and cuts off midway through a scoreline appears in the event material but is inconsistent with the complete round-of-16 reporting that places Sun’s opponent as Shi Xunyao and her next match against Hina Hayata; the fragment should be treated as incomplete pending full verification. For now, Sun’s late-Feb run at The Kallang continues, with the winner of Sun versus Hayata moving one step closer to a potential third Singapore Smash title.