Chinese Guo Yue sails into World Cup quarters

World No. 2 GuoYue made it to the quarter-finals of the 2009 women's table tennis World Cup after an unbeaten run in her group competition on Sunday.

The top-seeded Chinese, who lost to her teammate Zhang Yining in the world championship final in Yokohama, Japan, opened with an11-8, 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 11-13, 11-8 win over veteran Li Jiao of Netherlands and won her second group match against Wang Yuegu from Singapore, 11-7, 12-10, 11-4, 11-3.

Guo then beat Paskauskiene Ruta from Lithuania 11-8, 11-3, 11-6,8-11, 11-6. Guo will encounter Liu Jia in the quarters.

Liu Shiwen, born in the 1990s, also made it three out of three to reach the quarter-finals, beating South Korea's Park Mi Young, Japan's Hirano Sayaka and Australia's Miao Miao. Liu will face Kim Kyung Ah.

Defending champion Li Xiaoxia earned a berth in the quarter-finals despite losing in her third group match against Japan's glamorous Fukuhara Ai 11-2, 8-11, 12-14, 9-11, 11-5, 6-11.

"I failed to perform well in some key points in the match against Fukuhara Ai, but fortunately I get through to the quarter-finals. I will try to find the rhythm afterwards." said Li, who managed a full-set victory in the first two group matches and will play with Li Jiao.

2009 women's table tennis World Cup, marked as one of the tabletennis "grand slam" events, have attracted 19 players from 13 countries and regions.

Source: Xinhua