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Epic match and Xu Xin played very well. The last set where Xu was up 8-2 then lost his lead up to 10-9 had me pulling my hair out. Way to go Xu.
Honestly watching ML he looked a bit tired and low energy on both of his matches against Flore and Xin. He wasn't using that insane power BH combined with multiple ML FH loop bombs. To be fair his opponents took away a lot of the opportunity but usually ML turns the heat up to max and no one can get through him. When he plays full energy it's over.
It seems like even ML underestimates his opponent sometimes. You could see he didnt expect flore or XX to play so well.
These defeats are a blessing to happen before Rio both for ZJK and ML because they expose their fluctuations. LGL is always on alert and unless we see dima going nuts I think both of them will reach the final without a problem
I bet LGL is doing extensive scouting on Dima and thats is the reason dima is not playing anywhere ... watching Waldner giving Dima service lessons would have sent shock wave through the CNT coaches ... Imagine if Dima starts serving suddenly like Tristan Flore and then attacking like Dima , thats going to give Ma Long nightmares for sure ...because one part of Dima's game that is predictable is his serve and he was pretty strong headed about not changing the serves his father taught him since when he was a kid .... I think if he becomes flexible on that aspect it will really shore up the possibilities as he already has the power to trouble CNT ...
It was for Chien Chen An (his blade is called the Chien Chen An Unlimited). He played pretty well and deserved at least a game, but when you don't play Ma Long often, his game is extremely tricky. I think his forehand sometimes doesn't let people see how tricky and all round Ma Long's game really is.