Chen Meng of Shenzhen returns the ball to Wang Manyu of Shandong during the women's team final match at the Chinese Table Tennis Club Super League (CTTSL), in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Dec. 29, 2020. (Xinhua/Lu Hanxin)
GUANGZHOU, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Star-studded Shenzhen lived up to huge expectations by rallying past Shandong 3-1 in the women's final of the 2020 China Table Tennis Super League (CTTSL) on Tuesday.
Featuring prominent names like Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha and Wang Yidi, Shenzhen took revenge on Shandong, who had handed Shenzhen their only defeat in the tournament's first stage.
But it was not all plain sailing for Shenzhen to reclaim their crown, as the pair of Wang and Sun lost their opening match 11-3, 13-11, 12-10 to Shandong's Qian Tianyi and Chen Xingtong.
The following three singles matches were also pulled into five games, but all ended in Shenzhen's favor.
Shandong's Wang Manyu led by two games to one, but world No. 1 Chen Meng bounced back and won 11-4, 11-8 to level the scores for Shenzhen.
Sun, who follows Chen Meng in the world rankings, was also 2-1 down but saved two match points in the fourth game on the way to a 12-10 victory, and came back from 7-3 down in the fifth to win 11-8, inflicting Chen's first loss of the season.
After splitting the first four games, Wang Yidi overcame Wang Manyu 11-8 in the deciding game to accomplish Shenzhen's title-winning mission.
"Both teams played to their best today. We lost to Shandong in the first stage, so we just went out for a fight. Luckily we won this match," said Sun, who was voted the women's MVP.
The men's champions will be determined after a Shandong derby between Luneng and Weiqiao later on Tuesday. Enditem
