Hong Kong’s Doo Hoi-kem, Wong Chun-ting get to WTT Contender Muscat last 8 – in singles
Pair have only individual glory to chase after following up mixed doubles title win in Qatar with first-round loss in Oman
After combining for glory last week, Hong Kong’s Doo Hoi-kem and Wong Chun-ting went back to ploughing lone furrows towards success at the WTT Contender Muscat tournament in Oman on Thursday.
Doo and Wong claimed the WTT Star Contender Doha mixed doubles title on Sunday, but were left to go their own ways in the Omani capital following a shock 3-2 first-round defeat by French pair Thibault Poret and Charlotte Lutz on Wednesday.
The 34-year-old Wong convincingly bounced back 24 hours later, recovering from dropping the opening game of his second-round singles match to beat Huang Youzheng of mainland China 9-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 in 25 minutes.
An Asian Games singles bronze medallist in 2023, Wong’s reward for seeing off the man who had shocked world No 7 Liang Jingkun in round one is a quarter-final date with either Patrick Franziska or Kirill Gerassimenko on Friday.
Lin Shidong, the world’s second-ranked player and No 1 seed, survived a fright before overcoming Vladimir Sidorenko, the world No 56 from Russia, 3-2 following a 41-minute tussle. The world No 12, Xiang Peng, was eliminated following a 3-1 defeat by Sweden’s world No 27, Anton Kallberg.
In the women’s draw, Doo strolled through her opening game 11-3 before Sibel Atinkata, her Turkish opponent, withdrew injured. The Hongkonger is yet to lose a game after she beat Xu Yi 3-0 in the opening round. Seeded No 6, Doo will face No 2 seed Chen I-ching in the last eight after the Taiwanese player brushed aside Yang Yiyun 3-0 in 29 minutes.