Lily Zhang’s Best Match

Being a U.S. citizen, I always wanted to see U.S. table tennis players hold their own against foreign opponents. The last glimpse of this hope was Ariel Hsing’s historic match against China’s Li Xiaoxia in 2012. Who would have guessed that a new hope, Lily Zhang, would come 7 years later?

Miu Hirano, the 2017 Asian Champion and 2016 World Cup Winner, was by far the favorite in the match against Lily. Despite Lily’s early 2-0 lead, Hirano quickly took the next three games, relying on her speed and placement to throw Lily into a frenzy. What happened in this match? How did Lily come back from such a deficit to emerge victorious?

The Wall of Zhang

In games 1 and 2, Lily Zhang was a wall. She simply stood her ground, blocking and countering the speedy attacks from Hirano. Hirano looked surprised, there aren’t many players that could keep up with her speed in the way Lily had. The first two games were chalked up to Lily’s ability to simply not miss. Hirano, however, quickly found that speed alone could not beat the wall of Zhang.

Hirano’s Superb Placement and Variation

In games 3-5, Hirano began to vary her placement and spin much more effectively. Opting for down-the-line forehands and parallel backhands, Lily often found herself anticipating the play from Hirano incorrectly.

In addition, Hirano now began to vary the service more. She began to play more boldly with aggressive long serves while mixing in the half-long serves she’s so known for. Hirano, in 2017, was known for her shovel serves that just won her points outright. There were glimpses of this in games 3-5. When combined with the smarter, tactical, and fast play she’s known for, Lily now found herself on the back foot.

Lily Zhang’s Perseverance

Lily had complete control in games 6 and 7. I felt that Lily simply began to adjust to Hirano’s adjustment. She began to anticipate the down-the- line forehands and service variations. Due to this, Hirano could not get the ball past Lily.

This is a fundamental flaw in Hirano’s game: she is too one dimensional. If the opponents reads her initial speed game, she will then vary the placement and spin of her shots. However, she has no further variations beyond this. She cannot play with more power, she cannot play with a slower tempo, she does not have effective serves past her shovel serves. It is hard to adapt to Hirano’s initial game since she is so aggressive. However, Lily Zhang proved that speed is in her wheelhouse, and therefore she completely shut down the game of Miu Hirano.

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