Sun Yingsha vs Veronika Matiunina | Match Highlights | #ITTFWorlds2025

A really nice exchange there on the backhand side. I think we'll see a lot more of that in this matchup. Veronica Matunina loves to stay in the middle of the table. We know Sun Yingsha is extremely comfortable doing that. Three all. Matunina offers up the hand by way of apology, winning that point, but I'm sure she won't mind having one in that fashion. A point's a point after all. Four to five. She does look very calm though, considering the... Eleven-five. Matunina with the backhand into the net means Sun Yingsha wraps up the opener. And remember, of course, that wonderful start she had to the opener. She was able to get herself into a lead. What will be the key here in this second game, Gavin, for Matunina? Six to two. A really good setup for Matunina, forcing Sun Yingsha a little bit back from the table. Just couldn't finish. Seven-five. A really nicely put together there for Matunina, trading backhand and forehand. Brings herself back to within two. Five-ten. So much speed and power, and Sun Yingsha wraps up the second game in imperious fashion in those last few points. But do you think, Gavin, that perhaps she'll be a bit frustrated with how things went in the middle of that game? She was into a... Quickly established a good lead, and then allowed Matunina back into it with a couple of errors. Two-seven. Well, we've got some eyes on the ground. Eleven-five. Game to Sun. Well, she had five game points. She only needed the one, and Sun Yingsha is a game away from her place in the second round here. Three games to love. She leads Veronica Matunina. Here she is, playing the woman who seems to be her idol. It's wonderful to see. Two left. The fist pump as she takes that point, goes two points up in this crucial, must-win fourth game. There from Sun Yingsha. It looked like Matunina had it won. But somehow she scrambles from the back of the table. Wow, just relentless pressure. Matunina was forcing backhand. Eleven-seven. Well, Sun Yingsha, the defending champion, her title defence very much intact as she makes her way. Safely through to the second round in straight games. Credit though to Veronica Matunina. Maybe stood up to the challenge, but Sun Yingsha utterly imperious. And just a class above. Through to the second round, where she'll face the winner of the match between Lucia Zabaleta and Pyong Sun Yong.