Ding Ning of China competes during the women's singles match against Li Jie of the Netherlands at the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships in Dusseldorf, Germany, June 2, 2017. (Xinhua/Tao Xiyi)
DUSSELDORF, Germany, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Ding Ning of China defeated Li Jie of the Netherlands 4-0 to enter the women's singles quarterfinals at the World Table Tennis Champioships here on Friday.
The top-seeded Ding routed the former Chinese player Li 11-9, 11-6, 11-6, 11-9 to book a quarterfinal clash against sixth seed Kasumi Ishikawa of Japan, who beat Romania's Elizabeta Samara 4-0 in the day's other match.
Ding, also the Olympic gold medalist in Rio, will be joined by four Chinese teammates in the last eight.
Second seed Liu Shiwen beat Kim Song I of DPR Korea 4-0, third seed Zhu Yuling defeated world No. 10 Ito Mima of Japan 4-2, fifth seed Chen Meng ousted Danlela Monteriro Dodean of Romania 4-2 and quarlifier Mu Zi routed Japan's Kato Miyu 4-0.
That means two matches in the quarterfinals will be all-Chinese affairs, with Liu meeting Mu and Zhu taking on Chen.
Asian champion Miu Hirano of Japan also qualified for the last eight after defeating former Chinese Maria Xiao, now representing Spain, 4-0.
The 17-year-old will fight for a semifinal berth against another former Chinese player Feng Tianwei as the Singaporean beat Germany's Kristin Silbereisen 4-2 to smash the hosts' hope of winning a medal.
