TABLE TENNIS/Taiwan upstarts reach Singapore Smash table tennis final

Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) Taiwan's Lin Yun-ju (林昀儒) and Kao Cheng-jui (高承睿) defeated their French opponents 3-1 on Friday to advance to the men's doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash on Friday.

Eyeing a partnership at the 2026 Asian Games, the 23-year-old Lin and his 20-year-old partner are teaming up for the first time at the Singapore Smash and have show surprisingly good chemistry throughout the tournament.

They topped the fifth-seeded team from Singapore 3-0 in the round of 16 and the second-seeded team from Japan 3-1 in the quarterfinals before overcoming the fourth-seeded French team of Florian Bourrassaud and Esteban Dorr on Friday to advance to the finals.

"Now that they've made it to the finals, they might as well give it everything they've got to get the best possible result," their coach Wang Yi-tse (王翊澤) told CNA after Friday's match, praising the duo's performance.

Lin and Kao, who won 11-8, 11-4, 8-11, 13-11, showed a steady hand in the tight first game before clinching the final two points to go up in the match.

They carried that momentum over to the next game, taking a 5-0 lead after a series of unforced errors by their opponents, and used a cohesive attack to keep the French pair on the defensive the rest of the way to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five match.

That momentum was reversed in the third game, however, when the Frenchmen scored the final three points to break an 8-8 tie and get themselves back into the match.

The French duo continued to battle in the final game, saving four match points before finally falling to the Taiwanese, who showed considerable poise while staving off the comeback.

Lin and Kao will next face the third-seeded duo, Lin Shidong (林詩棟) and Wang Chuqin (王楚欽) of China, who defeated top seeds Alexis and Felix Lebrun of France 3-1 in their semifinal match.

Wang and Lin Shidong, ranked first and second in the world in men's singles, are also teaming up for the first time in the tournament.

Of the Taiwanese table tennis players in Singapore, Lin Yun-ju is still alive in the men's singles tournament, and was set to face Lin Shidong in the quarterfinals Friday night after taking out sixth seed Hugo Calderano of Brazil in the round of 16.

Kao was eliminated in round of 16 by 12th-seed Jang Woo-jin of South Korea 3-1 after a stunning 3-2 upset of Olympic bronze medalist Felix Lebrun in the round of 32.

No Taiwanese women reached the round of 16 of the women's singles but second seeds Li Yu-jhun (李昱諄) and Cheng I-ching (鄭怡靜) made it to the semifinals before being ousted by third seeds Wang Manyu (王曼昱) and Kuai Man (蒯曼) of China.

The US$1.5 million WTT Singapore Smash is being held at the Singapore Sports Hub until Sunday.