Macao table tennis player, Zhu Yuling, has become the women’s singles champion at the World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash 2025, defeating her mainland Chinese opponent Chen Yi on Sunday 7-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9, 11-8.
Both players were competing for their first WTT Grand Smash title at Las Vegas’ Orleans Arena, with 20-year-old Chen besting the Macao representative in the first two rounds.
According to the WTT, “Zhu began to enter her element” from the third game onward, resulting in the tables being turned completely. “Playing with her heart on her sleeve, the 30-year-old went all out in pursuit of greatness,” the organisation wrote.
Zhu ultimately sealed her historic win by dominating the remaining matches.
“[The final] depends on who performs above their level,” the former world number one said in an interview on Saturday, after qualifying for the finals. “When two strong players meet, it is not the brave one that wins, but the wise one.”
Zhu and Chen are currently ranked 14th and 17th in the world. The former is a Sichuan native who originally represented mainland China, becoming part of the national team at the age of 15.
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In 2010, Zhu was crowned the youngest winner of the World Junior Table Tennis Championships women’s singles event. She would continue her winning streak, bagging titles at other major tournaments, including the 2017 ITTF World Cup and becoming world number 1 for the first time in November of that year.
Adversity struck in 2021 when the table tennis player was forced into retirement from the mainland Chinese team in order to undergo cancer treatment. After beating the disease, Zhu would go onto further studies, becoming a physical education academic at Tianjin University before becoming part of the Macao team in September 2024.
“It’s really like a dream for me to come back and play table tennis again and right now it still feels very surreal to me. I hope this beautiful dream can keep on going,” Zhu said after winning the final.
Other winners of this year’s US Smash include 25-year-old world number 2, Wang Chuqin, who clinched gold in the men’s singles, defeating Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto 11-3, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8.
Meanwhile, the champions of the women’s doubles were Wang Yidi and Kuai Man from China, with South Korea’s An Jaehyun and Lim Jonhoon bagging first prize in the men’s doubles. As for the mixed double, the prize went to China’s Lin Shidong and Kuai Man.
Held between 3 and 13 July, the US Smash 2025 featured dozens of the world’s top table tennis players, who were competing for a prize pool worth US$1.55 million.
