FULL MATCH Sun Yingsha vs Wang Manyu WS Final WTTSingapore2026

It's sort of surreal seeing them in the practice hall with their separate practice partners just before this and probably 200 fans watching silently. The air conditioning was the loudest thing in the room. Manus obviously had a little bit more of a rest just a bit by an hour or so. But she's dialed in and sharp very very wise to that particular challenge. It's always interesting again coming back to the training hall to see how players practice and how different they look and then when you see them facing each other they're playing people outside the top 10 other than Shunyi Shishun Yao who is Shasha's practice partner. Stepping into the table for the first time a number next to her name on the board just to clarify on that on the Chinese national team but not top 10 in the world Shishun Yao is a strong practice partner. Know each other's games as well as these two do. Where do you go to focus on yourself and just execute your game to perfection? That's a good question. I think it's similar to always in the sense that you're going to see what works and you're going to have a bunch of backup plans to evolve. I think sometimes the element of surprise especially at this level against anybody whether the surprise is I'm playing a game against you that you haven't seen online or that you've never played against me it can be very effective. These are subtle changes that might not meet the naked eye. For example push a little bit more serve slightly shorter on your half long. She did well in the early parts of this point that felt like she was in the better position after blocking this ball back and then gets a shot that's right in her wheelhouse that's about elbow height for a forehand of Wang Manyu. She's not usually gonna end the rally there the way she did. Four all and if these look decibel levels at four all first game my goodness what are we in for tonight? Yeah I've protected my ear as well throughout this event. It's crucial most of the time in the training hall Shasha is warming up the backhand she's very steady there double serve. This one turns down to get a whole lot of top spin on it. She'll play ones with the thumb up a little higher where she's guiding but that one was really the opening. The muscle memory for Sun Yingshao will also have recent memories of regularly firing that backhand into the body the crossover area for Chen Yu who just couldn't get out of it really got tangled up a lot of the time. A reminder of what incredible technicians these elite Chinese players are on receive. But she was in the right place Manyu yeah the net on this last ball the forehand flick well in position quick counter across court and then a parallel finishing shot that might not have finished the rally had it not caught the net but that said the world number two against the world number one this is the clash of our generation 29 times they've played. Wang Manyu's won 10 the remaining 19 with Shasha when you look at that head-to-head Adam the other thing to bear in mind is if you go back to say 13 matches the last 13 Shasha won 10 of them not bad in position as she had Wang Manyu a little bit behind the table she can reel off a few of those and then it's just a game of chase on the other side wherever you're watching this savor this because we've just seen Shasha pull out something that she hasn't done really all that often during the course of her march to the final this week and that's what's beautiful about this matchup it will bring out the very best in both of them. Shasha drives it with a whole lot of traction a lot of pull not a lot of power push then it comes back long and she dips leans back just loads that ball with spin everyone's studying soaking up some knowledge here getting ready for their weekend matches on sunday night for the wrist there with a sting pong interestingly enough just above the wrist had the ball come down on the table you could see by where she was rubbing it but if it's between the wrist and the fingertips and it comes down into play that's not an easy ball to return the times to great effect players play on yeah play on players it's game point times two for shasha i love it the mario the 8-bit poster in the fan section little towel there you want to see that one come down whenever there's a lob it makes things so interesting sort of a last resort in table tennis if you can do anything else to get the ball on the table well coach would recommend it from way out wide on the what might be east coast of the table all the way back to the shore on the other side and then the block there on the move no layover needed just lovely little shuffle steps across what if it actually wasn't a flash in the crowd it was just singing shah i thought she said no flash please again the speed of light out here this backhand you talked about the heat man she's going to be putting some humidity on the forehead of her opponent after that and you happy to take that one corner to corner testing rallies they're getting a bit longer here it still feels like one of these sort of buildings you're building a point waiting for the right moment but also playing cautiously enough to make sure you're not exposed these two are both adept at slowing things down a little bit occasionally let's put that diplomatically it's going to be interesting to see what umpire hen does in terms of just getting them to move along play the points it was so diplomatic i didn't even understand it at first but i know what you mean yeah they do take some time between points there's a lot to think about if there are yellow cards here we'll know why but there are no coaches on benches so they will come back to the table on time at least after a water break appreciate the powers in this rally they had their chances wong mon you ripping that backhand and xia xia just sends it back this is one of those if you blink you would miss it but they're there for every single shot however many in that rally it was just a high octane incredible rally to watch players don't celebrate for the sake of celebrating there's always some meaning but like when you watch one chi chi when he clenches that right fist and celebrates he doesn't do it lightly it means he's done something that he's happy with just now xia xia clinch fist tells you a story when even they think yeah i did okay there these are the little ones that i think might not make the highlight reels but are going to be crucial the short rallies this is the reason it's important to watch a match in its entirety if you really want to learn from it highlights won't tell the whole story the scoreboard keeps track of every single point even service gifts which that was not but it could be xia xia's shading this at the moment not the man who's going to panic unduly at some point she's got to think about making inroads xia xia has the answers often does she's been working hard i still remember early on during our ask a pro anything i said what are you working on in your game you know what she said singles can you imagine three and a half years of world number one and guess what she's still working on all of it you might feel like there's a stagnance for someone to stay on top because their world ranking's not changing but that's not how it works everyone else is improving and working hard to take your spot you've got to stay above the first time she's been really extended stretched out to now come back she added side spin to the first and wong man you watch this side top spin good coverage wong man you fully extended there the better wingspan of the two left three in beautiful backhand the speed on this it was uncomfortable from the start baseline to baseline this long serve gets a push from the baseline that's exactly what you want but then she spins the third ball she doesn't panic or try to kill it in some senses it was a little surprise she didn't play it more powerfully to put more pressure on it was the right choice though yeah it all worked out wong man yu's way remember the fan vote was not from the people in the stadium right now that might have might have gone the other way substantially 53 47 153 and negative 47 oh yeah that's rough wong man yu's gonna have to find some answers here and she does they're getting low spinning to the middle behind the table's gonna be tough a timeout now after a big run what three in a row from down two eight for wong man yu over the edge does it sting keep the lemon juice away and she continues through the timeout wong man yu the world number two now with the serves back a chance to serve to parody just the absolute top you could hear it on almost every shot of the 18 the grunting just kept coming it was push for shove the stronger one got the other parallels twice in a row from wong man yu wow what a way to finish five in a row for wong man yu six and she's level and that's the predictable response shasha's fans in the crowd that's the first time it's been directed at an individual as opposed to players the run of points didn't miss by much it didn't appear to from here anyway could have caught the edge good to see the koreans in the crowd wong shao tong there was the practice partner for wong man yu shi shun yao on the right oh is anything in the house yep when's the last time you heard shasha chole feels like it's been a little while it's a big point there she needed it after the points before wouldn't it be cool you had an office job and you showed up and that was waiting for you just a wall of people with your name on posters chanting boss can have a bathroom break jio ttr can you imagine yes it's tough when you feel like you've made such a comeback streak only for it to potentially go to waste but we're still keeping score in game number two wong man yu still has a chance here but she's been there before she knows all about the shasha fans she knows all about the quality of her opponent now the the margin for error has just shrunk for wong man yu special out here the arc the slow spin just something to change it up here one shallow and then deep okay this is a tactic that's often used by non-chinese players against the chinese just something to break the rhythm but if it works why not embrace it here as well what she does best the first one's slow and spinning there it is that's the arc now she sets up she says if you take this one slow too i'm going to be setting up as soon as i see that you're not giving a backswing she starts her pivot it looked like it caught her right in the necklace check one more time corner to corner and then the red see all sternum check inside the table as well good start here for a player who still has her time out the one with the greater wingspan of the two using that to her advantage inside the table here but still takes a lot of footwork and from the opponent because sha sha embraced it wrapped it up like a blanket and sent it back to say good night yep that's a tough one she's not going to get a whole lot of chances right and i think that's why the body language spoke so loudly she knows she has to take advantage man one person in the crowd did not go decaf on break i like the idea she's working it out just doing the geometry in her head for where to put the arm elbow wrist so there's a new one coming in pop quiz hot shot check this out four hand wide with the side spin wingspan tested and that to level it out three in a row for shasha this could be the pivotal game really more menu gets back in she's got loads of time to make this match anything it wants to be but lose this and things get tough yeah it's loud it is we all brought something just to protect ourselves you like history love history sweet you like fun facts love them too oh then you're gonna love this get ready 29 times they've played and not once has longman you won from being down zero two i hope her shoulders fine yeah it's twice now there was that one when she sort of flexed both shoulder plates but this time she specifically reached for that right one what was that said again how many times zero out of 29 oh wow okay which means today would be the first if she does it it hasn't happened dot dot dot okay noted in here for shasha baby buddha rubbing the belly seven all tense times in the infinity arena good spin into the middle as small as it may be because of the speed of shasha she still has a middle a crossover this one she chooses back and fair enough she'll make that shot most of the time but it's well placed puts a lot of pressure on her to choose now and going forward one man you but it held up there can she exact maximum return now from that soft hands in the top clever clever when you start to get into patterns and you get a little bit ahead of yourself before it's there that can happen so reset go again you know it's a good job it's going to get quieter when the men's final comes along later oh hang on a moment nice one nice one don't forget to tip your waitresses how mental this is in a cognitive sense that both of these players right now have to make sure the tension doesn't slow them down there could be a lot of it right now and i think that's really when it comes in to haunt you transitioning into the attack yeah indeed like share and subscribe check this out flick right back one more wider where are you going as she did a little step there caught wasn't able to follow through the way she wanted whatever the hesitation was it's mental seen sun ying xia so that's quite a statement to the level that wong man yu is bringing in the versatility and the variety to her game to bring this pause and hesitation on xia xia's side yeah it's a little victory in itself it's adding up on the scoreboard here under the first towel break of four to two lead for wong man yu with the serves and you was in control and then at the last moment somehow xia xia sends it right back to where it came from out of reach the percentages on the table that was a small closing window the shrillest support tells you that wong man yu is maintaining a little cushion left three five risky shot trules in here from xia xia take a look at it come down watch where the bounce is from wong man yu on this shallow very shallow and xia xia taking it from low to go inside out from xia xia there was a clever ball in there from wong man yu that seemed out of character for the moment take a look long push soft high arcing spin and had the opening on the line that's tough to not convert most in the world wouldn't but these are the two best in the world it almost looked like a two-handed backhand for a moment that really looked like self-defense somehow she blocked her neck with the blade okay that's the soft one this a jumping okay right in front of that sternum she'd had enough there it comes back into the net sometimes just getting it back on the table is enough i'd watch what wong man yu does spin spin again neither of those was a rocket this is called changing patterns and setting yourself up for better positioning second towel break comes to an end xia xia trailing by two momentum with man yu the reach across the body short backswing the timing efficient play man you pretty much had the advantage since that time out she feels that way last game yeah it feels that way at least the majority of the time here's a good bird's eye view to see the movement where the feet are how wide the stances of these players they make it look easy it's very unnatural oh yeah and she has a little word with herself there five by nine i think that's what she said set it up well the idea was right trying for the side spin with the top spin but table couldn't hang big sorry sorry sorry but it's four game points to square this match up there has been some fortune throughout it feels like wong man yu has given some iou's to xia xia oh when can i cash them in fortunately for xia xia's sake she's got the two-to-one lead right now in games take it a soft shallow spin shot turning it quickly redirecting traffic spraying it out wide to the forehand side so subtle i think peripheral vision played a big role in that wong man you started to pivot there's so many reasons to be low in table tennis but this is just one more that you've got better peripheral vision if your opponent is clearly behind the you're standing too tall suddenly it's mostly table you don't want that you want your opponent and the chase begins thinking back to the practice hall where they were training just before this wong man yu was playing a bit more side spin funky shots xia xia was focusing on her backhand most of the time a lot of drilling and fast rallies big break again the ous are flooding the pockets right now starting to fill up a bit yeah loaded with spin gets the legs nice and low to spring up into this watch xia xia's legs get ready oh what a twist at the waist just pushes off plants perfectly we've seen the training videos i mean the trunk the core the legs she's just incredibly fit strong mind you have the athleticism behind that the core control there and a little net along the way yeah well that's just noxious edge rather so she raised her finger and now that camera a little bit more clear we've got a great production here don't get me wrong you should be here live whenever you can it's a quiet experience but if you're watching from home even if it's somebody else's you're getting an incredible view look at this it's like you're standing in the court right now a few more to spend in that pocket is what the elbow is all about getting someone to lean just a little bit top of the 16 shots in this rally and almost everyone from long man you is safely well inside the baseline on the bounce she got back into position kept xia xia behind this is the type of sort of choreography she wants xia xia farther away oh and then some yeah a little celebration then she knew that that was an immense effort to just get this up and on the table backhand is always uncomfortable if it's the forehand side yeah you can let it rise a little bit and come across it but with the backhand it's very unnatural natural it's sort of a random thing like cavemen weren't doing these motions but or women for that matter not for any reason in particular but learning how to say create a shot when it's coming up high to your backhand side it's very uncomfortable i should say very close to getting it back got a racket on it one more iou cashed in that's two tallied ticked off not upset but maybe checked off i should say the body language the bird's eye view is actually pretty perfect for the body language it was subtle but you could see that long man you is realizing the luck is coming back around karma's doing its thing separating them after all this time all this table tennis all this elite level play hardly anything between these two the best two in the world perfect word but on several occasions it feels that way kina hayata was able to get her in an uncomfortable position like i haven't seen many do but the past two and a half nearly three games wong man you has kept it incredibly funky two slow spin shots that face told you a story disgruntled should we say too good just a little opening there gone with the wind all that to get within two points here at the business end of game number five she's having to work harder for success than man you at the moment in points three of them but the serve sets that up she's got a lot of room for creativity there last point the toughest one to get this almost man felice's finishing shot in the men's doubles final was really something but if wong man you had made this for a winner it would have been top 10 of the week for sure she had the proficiency she called to herself rata got a three-point cushion why not i think it was also just the reality was that if she made it any other way she would have had trouble staying in position so she had to try and finish it there one game point save two more to go for one man you like anyway we'll have another is the setup that's why that's tough different camera angles offering you literally different perspectives and we've got deuce this is not the decider but it could feel like it boy she's dug deep here staring at going three two down now it's the opposite you gave me earlier from two down but just never come back to win the match right yeah i guess that's what i meant i wasn't super specific there i mean she may not have done soft block nice and shallow another soft one shallow and that's enough timing changed well no scratching moment for a good reason long man you has come back before from down two three what what was that she's unraveling her shirt wow scissors i literally have a pair of scissors in my pocket right now there's probably someone closer that what have you ever have you ever somebody had do i hold my headset yes adam is making his way to the field of play but it looks as if the train has got there first well all kinds of conclusions to draw from that not least that we need to know why adam's running around with scissors but in case my shirt ever unravels or a close friend in a final okay you don't carry scissors for that reason i'm here with them oh except maybe the net yeah but i have scissors for that just in case just in case i'll remember it's a chain okay little net on the last one another iou cashed in quick to apologize remember now or never for wong man you must win this game shasha's got her options she turns up the heat if there's one thing she does absolutely brilliantly is when she gets a glimpse of a chance tends to put the foot down at just the right moment open up the gap don't entertain a comeback if you could ask the best in the game one question the type of question you might ask her is when you feel like you're falling into a slump how do you manage to get yourself back on track in time almost every time he's finished it long line you slowing it down in the end three four and there's just a little change of step there pivot combination reaches way out in front there that's a tough ball to deal with she's not crying just sweat that or she really loved that thread needs it most one menu is just just falling off the pace slightly hold it also down on thread now it's not going the way of the world number two 12 of the last 16 points and also that moment when you realize you're doing a deep breath on camera for the world to enjoy that was a fun moment the way she turned the wrist down for what and then the follow-up that hurricane forehand with the hook on it side spin top spin that ball's not coming back have themselves to absolutely silly all around here hands are being held the air is being punched text message lovely she's not giving up on anything here one man you she knows she can reel off points against shasha she's done it already in this match 10 7 last game long man you there's almost a i don't know inigo montoya sort of vibe right now for revenge it was building she's just trying to keep the hugs loose right now do you see her hitting her thigh after a point like this stretch that thin she apologizes quickly and then she just starts pounding on the quad little self-massage out there in this moment scoreboard tighten up three in a row for one hello fans if this goes seven we're counting but it's crazy it's all the effort she never gives up that far behind the table this is why you don't stop trying yep no matter what as long as you try there's a chance if you don't that could never happen luck might be on your side in any given moment still hitting the thighs keeping that hand cool down by two the same score line we saw last game but it's three championship points for the world number one the defending champ sun ying xia not so fast says one man you still two championship points to try and survive this towel break is like a joke in the middle of a horror film oh my goodness the beat whatever it takes me her uh all of you or or to quote jean everyone here we go oh surely and the coolest people in the house are those two out of the table baby buddha on receive