China Smash 2026, Beijing, 10/1-11

[J-fed]

Liang takes the second.
Wonderful player. A lot of similarities with Truls.

 

[J-fed]

Dominant win. Impressive indeed.

 

[ThePongCommenter]

Liang takes the second.
Wonderful player. A lot of similarities with Truls.

I don't see many similarities lol

 

[J-fed]

I don't see many similarities lol

I guess it’s only the forehand and the backhand really

 

[ThePongCommenter]

I guess it’s only the forehand and the backhand really

That's where I find the comparison interesting - Truls is extremely FH favored and LJK is extremely BH favored, not to mention how they prefer to engage in the points

 

[M51]

Not if he's out against Sido. 3-2 to Sido.

Welp.

 

[kindof99]

I guess it’s only the forehand and the backhand really

Now I think you are gettinmore serious about the simiarilities between these two. Really?

 

[kindof99]

That's where I find the comparison interesting - Truls is extremely FH favored and LJK is extremely BH favored, not to mention how they prefer to engage in the points

LJK more about spin, Truls more about placement?

 

[NextLevel]

That's where I find the comparison interesting - Truls is extremely FH favored and LJK is extremely BH favored, not to mention how they prefer to engage in the points

You are being a bit reliant on overall reputation, he is watching them with fresh eyes, and tbh, Liang is often BH dominant relative to a CNT player, vs Europeans, he doesn't really scale.

 

[Grahf]

Predictions:
-My man Sidorenko back for party, hope its a banger vs LJK and wins 3-2
-Diaz goes home first round again, this time vs Odo 1-3
-Hugo vs Dima what a banger, 3-1

And I hope the Kirill vs An Jaehyun and Alexis vs Redzimski are both bangers, I like this 4 playstyles

Only lost the Sido one, not bad at all, he and LJK both were not that clean on the table but was a good match, Sido needs to practice harder to regain confidence

Diaz on the other hand... idk if she can get out of her bad streak

And damn, Kirill always plays for the show, gg

 

[Talesofwin]

Truls looked really bad in 5th set. Seems like his nerves get to him.

Is Baldwin good or just Lucky to almost win?

And what happened to Truls emotions? He didnt scream or shout like he usually does

 

[kindof99]

Sido kept placing two shots to the same spots to LJK and then got countered on the second one. No one can beat LJK this way.

Also he played his backhand loop to LJK's backhand a lot. He should have known that from the first game that it did not work

 

[Helanren]

Welp.

It's possible I may have been, in fact, very much mistaken.

 

[MaLang]

Impressive match by Kuo. Surprisingly the most one-sided match in the first round, probably by far. Ranefur did not find a single serve that put Kuo under any pressure.
If Kuo continues to chiquita like Lin in his best days, then he will be a very dangerous opponent for Liang and potentially Sora afterwards. Although still not likely, I would not be shocked to see a major underdog run by the youngster.

 

[dingyibvs]

As I pointed out earlier in my post about Movileanu, Sidorenko has a very predictable game and IMO is just a one trick pony. He benefitted from the lack of exposure of Russian athletes earlier, surprised a lot of people with his aggressive lefty step-around FH game, but I think the honeymoon period is over.

 

[M51]

I love Truls, but man... The shear amount of luck in that match, especially in game five... You don't see that every day.

 

[pingpongnerd]

Agreed, Adam.

 

[tabaradumitru]

So fast?

 

[J-fed]

That's where I find the comparison interesting - Truls is extremely FH favored and LJK is extremely BH favored, not to mention how they prefer to engage in the points

@kindof99 I'm just looking at their occasional use of some quite nuanced stroke production. On the FH they both do that elbow above racket with the top of the bat as the leading edge shot (I guess it's an instinctive adjustment to keep the ball down?). Then on BH they do that almost slow motion heavy topspin shot apparently without any wrist or elbow (slow motion might prove this completely wrong) just using the deltoids. I really can't imagine how they do that one. It's a bit like a one handed tennis BH from a square stance.
I find them both to be quite similar in this way. I hadn't seen LJK before and thought Truls was unique in those shots but there it is. Another top pro doing similar unusual things.

 

[FIXPOINT]

China Smash 2026 WS R64

China Smash 2026 MS R64