After facing off in the gold medal match, both Ding Ning and Li Xiaoxia showed no ill will in teaming up to help China defend their gold medal in the women's team event.
Along with teammate Liu Shiwen, China cruised to an opening-round victory 3-0 over the host nation, Brazil. They were one of eight nations to advance to the quarterfinals, which will be played tomorrow at 10am in Rio. Having swept through the previous two Olympics without losing a single game, let alone a match, China improved their Olympics team record to 10-0 in matches and 30-0 in the games within those matches.
They needed just 66 minutes to defeat Brazil. In other games, North Korea, South Korea, Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong, Austria, and Japan all advanced with victories in the Round of 16. USA was swept out of the tournament in the first round for the second straight Olympics, dropping a three-game sweep to Germany.
China, North Korea, and Singapore cruise in top half of the bracket, while South Korea escapes upset
The top half of the bracket was, for the most part, one of blowouts in the first round as the Asian powers of table tennis advanced to the quarterfinals rather easily. China, North Korea, and Singapore all advanced with sweeps over their respective opponents. However, one country, South Korea, struggled to put away their first-round opponent, as the underdog Romanians hung around with the Koreans for five games before finally succumbing in a marathon 3 hour and 9 minute match.
China opens up defense with clean sweep of host nation
Despite having the home crowd behind them, Brazil had the toughest draw of any team in the first round, having to face the China team that has looked unbeatable ever since the team tournament came into the Olympics. China's Liu began the clean sweep with a 3-0 victory over Lin Gui of Brazil. Game 1 of that match between LIn and Liu was tight, tied 8-8 after sixteen points, giving the Brazil crowd a sniff of an upset. However, Liu roared back for three straight points to shut the door on Lin. Games 2 and 3 were no contest as Liu opened up leads of 4-0 and 5-0 respectively, cruising to victories 11-5 and 11-3.
Bruna Takahashi was Brazil's next hope, as China's next player, and this year's silver medalist in Rio, Li Xiaoxia came striding to the playing table. Much like in Lin's match, Takahashi stayed close with the silver medalist, earning a 7-7 tie in Game 1, before Li pulled away with the next three points and an eventual 11-8 victory. Game 2 saw Li take a quick 9-3 lead and hang on for an 11-7 victory after Takahashi cut the deficit to just 9-6 in a few minutes. Game 3 was as lopsided as it can get, with Li roaring off to an 8-0 run to start the game and cruising to an 11-1 victory.
Needing just one victory to secure the sweep, China turned to their gold medalist in Ding Ning, who paired with Liu in a doubles match. The top two players in the world, Liu at #1 and Ding at #2, the duo is nearly unstoppable and a dagger in the back for any team trying to mount a comeback against this deep Chinese squad. In each game, the Chinese duo looked unbeatable as they raced to leads of 10-0, 10-2, and 9-3. With insurmountable deficits, Brazil's duo of Caroline Kumahara and Lin meekly succumbed to their Chinese counterparts, 11-1, 11-4, 11-4.
North Korea and Singapore cruise
Singapore was just about every bit as dominant as China as they swept Egypt in just one hour and ten minutes, losing just one game in the process. Yu Mengyu cruised to a Match 1 victory over Dina Meshreff, 11-3, 11-6, 11-6. Mengyu never trailed in the match until Meshreff garnered a very temporary 1-0 lead in Game 3. Feng Tianwei, following a disappointing quarterfinals exit, needed four games to dispose of Nadeen El-Dawlatly, but she still did so rather easily with 11-4 and 11-5 victories in the final two games. Yu returned to the table for the doubles match, paired with Yihan Zhou. The duo trailed 1-0 in the first game, but they never trailed again in a straight sets victory that gave Singapore the quarterfinal berth.
North Korea was another dominant team in the first round, sweeping Australia 3-0, losing just one total game over the course of the 72 minute match. Ri Mi Gyong broke open 8-8 ties to win 11-8 and 11-9 in Games 1 and 3 respectively, while cruising to victory in Game 2 to give North Korea the early edge with a victory over Lay Jian Fang. Ri Myong Sun of North Korea won her game with relative ease, cruising in a trio of quick victories, 11-4, 11-6, 11-3, that took just 16 minutes. Ziyu Zhang was the Australian victim of Sun.
Fresh off shocking the world with a bronze medal, Kim Song-i, ranked fiftieth in the world, made her debut of the team rounds in securing North Korea's victory with a doubles victory. After an easy 11-2 victory in the first game, North Korea struggled against the Australian duo of Zhang and Melissa Tapper, who led the North Koreans all throughout Game 2. Up 10-8, the Australians missed their first two game point opportunities but responded for a 12-10 win. It was the last time the Australians led in the match, however, as the North Korean duo rebounded for 11-3 and 11-8 victories to close out the match.
South Korea escapes Romania, 3-2
Romania nearly pulled a massive upset in the first round, as they took the South Koreans to the full five matches before losing 3-2. Elizabeta Samara led 4-1 in Game 1 of her singles match to begin the round, but Jihee Jeon dominated the rest of the way in an 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 victory.
The Romanians responded with a big upset as Daniela Dodean stunned Hyowon Suh in three games, never trailing in two of them despite being the underdog. Dodean won 11-6 and 11-9 to begin her sweep, and then rallied from a 7-4 deficit in Game 3 to secure the match-evening upset.
South Korea paired Jeon and Haeun Yang for the first doubles match and the duo, although they were pushed hard by a scrappy Romanian duo in Dodean and Bernadette Szocs, pulled out a victory in four games. The Korean duo eked out a 12-10 victory in game 1, but they would let a 5-1 lead evaporate in Game 2, which they lost 11-9. Yang and Jeon responded however, winning a tough but critical Game 3. They faced game point at 10-11, but responded with three straight points to claim the victory, setting the tone for Game 4, in which they broke an 8-8 tie with three straight points to earn the victory.
However, pushed to the edge, Romania responded again, with Samara earning a singles victory in four games. Down 3-1 early, Samara rallied for an 11-8 victory in the opener, but she proceeded to never lead in a Game 2 loss, 11-9. In Game 3, Samara watched as her opponent, Yang, saved two game points to even the game 10-10, but the Romanian quickly responded to earn a 12-10 win. She broke a tie late in Game 4 to pull away for the 11-9 victory, forcing a deciding singles match.
In an instant classic, Szocs and Suh did battle in the decider, which went the maximum five games allowed. Szocs won the opener, a gritty 13-11 affair in which Szocs rallied after losing a 10-8 lead. However, the South Korean won the next two games. Game 2 was a heartbreaker for Szocs who had Suh pinned on game point, 12-11. One more point and she would have all but iced Romania's upset. Instead, Suh responded with a critical game-tying point, and used it as a rallying point to garner the next two scores and a victory. Szocs saved two game points in Game 3, after trailing 10-8, but after evening the score at ten points apiece, Suh broke off two quick points to take the win. But Szocs was not ready to succumb just yet. The Romanian watched Suh save three of four game points to narrow a 10-6 deficit to 10-9, but Szocs rose to the occassion to earn the needed point for victory.
Game 5 was a back and forth affair. Szocs opened up the first two-point lead at 5-3, but Suh promptly evened the score. The back and forth tussle lasted until the two players were locked in a 7-7 draw, at which point Suh ripped off four straight points, earning the victory and eliciting a sigh of relief from the South Korea team.
Austria upsets Netherlands
In the lone upset of Round 1, #11 Austria surprised #6 Netherlands as the Dutch received an unpleasantly early exit in the team event, dropping their opening match 3-1 to the Austrians. The Netherlands earned an opening game victory in a thrilling, five-set, 49-minute singles match. After winning the opening set of the next singles match, Netherlands looked ready to take control. However, Austria was saved by Jia Liu, who whipped out three straight victories to even the match and seize the momentum for the Austrians. Riding that momentum, the Austrians won the doubles match in four games, again winning the last three after dropping an opening 16-14 thriller.
And, finally, after gaining the momentum for the Austrians, it was Liu that polished off the upset with a thrilling five-set victory to shock the Netherlands.
The rest of the bracket was rather uneventful as all the favorites prevailed without much trouble. USA was meekly swept by Germany, the second straight time they have been swept in the Olympics. USA almost forced at least four games as their doubles duo led 2 games to 1, but they couldn't secure a victory in the final two games, giving Germany the victory.
Japan, possibly China's biggest challenger, had no issues in dismantling Poland 3-0. Newcomer Mima Ito looked very strong in her four-game victory in singles, including an 11-2 thumping in the clincher. She could draw the assignment of facing Ding Ning if the Japanese reach an expected championship match with China, seeing as Ito as defeated Ding before.
Hong Kong had a brief scare against Taipei, who won the first singles match of the round, but the fifth-seeded team responded for three straight victories, each in three game matches that were tighter then they looked to eke out a victory over the underdogs in a tough two and a half hour match.
The quarterfinals are to be played tomorrow.