Zhu Yuling vs Adriana Diaz - WS R32 - #WTTMontpellier 2025

Past the age of retirement for the Chinese national team by most standards. She's as fast as can be. Of course, I spent time. Beating Wang Yibi was a big turning point. Well placed, good hands. It's great watching Diaz when she's in full flow, isn't it? Well, that was a tricky one to return from. 11 to 5, game 2, Diaz. 1-1, 2-1. Oh, the highlights, so tempting here. A chop after the lobbing game. This is a very unusual point. Heavy side spin, and she scoops it up, sits up high enough that Zhu Yuling plays it safe. She's going to do everything she can to stay close though. 3-7, 3-7. Straight into the body of Zhu Yuling. Intelligence in terms of table tennis intelligence as well. 5-8. That's right, positioning matters a lot. Zhu Yuling prevails in the backhand-to-backhand rally to earn herself 4 games. Spinny and electric. 11-7. Clips the top of the net with the forehand, Diaz, and Zhu Yuling takes game number 2 to draw level. 1-1 here in this best of 5. 2-1. Deleting rally. Can we take a moment to appreciate how crazy that backhand was? Right down the line, game. Right now, it's still a bit of a guessing game. She's so solid, Zhu Yuling. That was that really exciting time for these emerging players. Well, not necessarily emerging, but in a really very strong serve percentage. Well, she does put it on receive. We need to worry about those serve percentages just yet. And it's Diaz who takes a 2-1 lead. 1-1. So that they can do shots like this. You know someone's about to smash the ball. Do you really need the time and space? 1-2. Of course, chopping. The nation was deadly. A brushing backhand and a ripping forehand. And the timeout on Zhu Yuling's side. The crazy thing is that one... Hai Peng, the coach. Happy with that first point out of the timeout. Yeah, brilliantly timed. Back the other way under the table with the racket. Bring the fortune. Oh, and she goes long. Has just pulled off one of the biggest wins of her career. She's knocked out the No. 4 seed. She's knocked out the former world No. 1. Here at the Champions in Montpellier. What a smile. And she seals the win. She came from there. She came confident. And Adriana Diaz is into the next round. Another seed has gone here in Montpellier. The upsets just keep on coming. Adriana Diaz. They deserve a place in the next round.