21-year-old Kim Song I went up against Yu Mengyu for a berth in the women's table tennis semifinals. Both were contesting in their first Olympics in the singles but the higher ranked Yu looked the favorite for this one.
In an attack - defensive style of play, it was Kim with her slices doing all the damage as she got herself a 3-1 lead. Yu tried to mount a fightback but it was not enough as the Korean eventually progressed to her first semifinals in the Olympics with an 11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6 victory.
Back and forth opening game
It was a close first game as both players stayed within each other in terms of points. Kim’s defensive slices were a different kind of challenge for the more attack-minded Singaporean. However, Yu was able to handle it reasonably well. In the longest rally of the match, Kim came out on top as she took a 9-8 lead. Yu’s forehand error then gave the Korean game point and as the Singaporean’s shot went long, Kim clinched the first set.
Yu levels the match
Yu was looking to find any opening in their rallies to put away winners. And it soon paid off as she raced to a 5-1 lead helped by errors from Kim as well. The four point gap remained as the game went on to 7-3 with Yu well in control of rallies. As the Singaporean took an 8-3 lead, errors from her gave a couple of points away before Kim switched it up with some attacking forehands of her own to reduce the gap to 6-8. However, she went back to her defensive style and some relentless hitting from Yu gave the ninth seed three game points. Yu blasted her forehand right at Kim’s body as she took the second game to level the match.
Kim races through
Yu could not carry the momentum through and her errors allowed Kim to edge ahead 4-2 in the game. It was now the Korean who took charge as Yu faltered winning just five points as Kim wrapped up the game 11-5 in quick fashion.
Kim mixes in the occasional attacking play to great effect
The start of the fourth game saw Kim come up tops in an enticing rally. Yu should have won the next point doing some great work but the net did her no favor as Kim took the lead. The Korean was coming up with some great shots as she opened up a two-point game for 3-1.
Yu was starting to add in a bit of attack into her play now and stepped up brilliantly to unleash a fiery forehand at the end of a long rally catching Yu off guard for 5-3. Kim extended the gap to 9-5 with some great shot-making and placement drawing errors from the Singaporean. The Korean again with the killer punch at the end of a rally to set up game points at 10-6 before closing out the game for a 3-1 lead.
Yu fights hard to keep herself in the match
In a must-win game for the Singaporean, Yu took the lead for the first time for 5-4. That lead was just momentary though as Kim who was looking more confident of the two raced away for a 9-6 lead. Yu was still fighting though and she came up with a monstrous point to win a thrilling rally to close the gap to 8-9 as momentum looked to swing her way. The Korean coach then smartly called a timeout. However, Kim could not capitalize as Yu leveled for 9-9. The next point went the way of Yu who was attacking with intent and grabbed the game to get herself back into the match.
Late fightback from Yu not enough as Kim finishes confidently
The Korean after that stutter in the previous game regrouped and breezed to a 6-2 lead. Yu left scrambling as Kim hammered into the open space to extend her lead to 7-2. The Singaporean fought back to 7-4 but the Korean was finding all her shots climbing to a staggering 9-5 lead. Yu then missed her shot completely as Kim earned herself four match points. Another entertaining rally went the way of the Korean who marched on to the semifinals.