On the morning of the sixth day of the World Table Tennis Championships main draw, the Men's Singles quarterfinals began.
That afternoon, the Mixed Doubles quarterfinals began.
When yesterday's matches concluded, everyone had assumed today's action would be even more brutal. Many spectators entered the venue carrying bread and bottled water, fully prepared for severe delays.
Some had even deliberately used the bathroom before leaving home, afraid they would not find a chance to go during an all-out battle without a single dull moment.
But everyone had guessed wrong.
Today's matches were generally one-sided. They went quickly, with not a single match reaching a seventh game. Instead, there were quite a few shutouts.
That was unexpected, yet perfectly reasonable.
In a sense, the spectators' predictions of fierce battles came from the unclear comparison of the two sides' strength. They thought the players were evenly matched. But in reality, even two players who had fought many intense battles in the past would, after enough head-to-head encounters, establish a clear winning-losing relationship. After that, the relationship would gradually stabilize.
That was also the reasoning behind Huaping's constant emphasis on "Kings do not meet kings" during internal practice.
But there was no such rule on the international stage. If you registered and I registered, and we happened to draw each other, then we would just fight it out without hesitation.
Lin Li and Fan Xiaodong were one such case.
Over the past half year, Fan Xiaodong had faced Lin Li twice in major international tournaments, losing narrowly both times.
Then, at the recent Top 12 Invitational, he had faced Lin Li twice and ended up with a 1:1 record.
But in this World Table Tennis Championships quarterfinal, he directly crushed Lin Li 4:1.
That clearly showed a trend. Fan Xiaodong was improving. He