On January 9th, the WTT Star Challenge mixed doubles quarter-finals saw the Chinese national table tennis team's Huang Youzheng/Shi Xunyao face off against the Hong Kong pair of Wong Chun Ting/Du Kai Qin! Although Huang Youzheng and Shi Xunyao have performed well as a mixed doubles team, they had little chance of victory against the experienced and powerful Wong Chun Ting/Du Kai Qin, who were already well-known during Xu Xin/Liu Shiwen's mixed doubles partnership and even ranked as high as second in the world at one point.
In the first game, despite Wong Chun Ting/Du Kai Qin's默契配合 and richer match experience, Huang Youzheng/Shi Xunyao entered the match state faster with a 7-4 lead at the start, taking the lead. Afterwards, Wong Chun Ting/Du Kai Qin made timely adjustments to try to close the score gap, bringing it to 7-9. Finally, Huang Youzheng/Shi Xunyao stabilized the situation, securing a game point at 10-7. Wong Chun Ting/Du Kai Qin successfully saved one game point, but Huang Youzheng/Shi Xunyao took the first game with an 11-8 score.
In the second game, Huang Youzheng/Shi Xunyao continued their stable performance with a 6-3 lead at the start and an 8-6 lead! Wong Chun Ting/Du Kai Qin did not back down, scoring continuously to narrow the gap and catch up to 7-8. Huang Youzheng/Shi Xunyao reached a game point at 10-9, but Wong Chun Ting/Du Kai Qin equalized the score again. Ultimately, Wong Chun Ting/Du Kai Qin withstood the pressure, securing a game point at 11-10 and winning the game 12-10, evening the score to 1-1.
In the third game, although Huang Youzheng/Shi Xunyao lost the previous game, their match state was not affected. They remained strong after the start of the match, opening with a 5-2 scoreline and completely suppressing Wong Chun Ting/Du Kai Qin in momentum. Later, Huang Youzheng/Shi Xunyao scored another 6-0 run, easily winning the game with an 11-2 score. After three games, Huang Youzheng/Shi Xunyao led 2-1, advancing into the decisive game first, while Wong Chun Ting/Du Kai Qin's situation became completely passive.
In the fourth game, with Wong Chun Ting/Du Kai Qin in a passive position, they went all out, starting with a 3-3 draw against Huang Youzheng/Shi Xunyao! Huang Youzheng/Shi Xunyao tried their best to widen the score gap, but were still closely followed by Wong Chun Ting/Du Kai Qin, with the score returning to 5-5. At a critical moment, Huang Youzheng/Shi Xunyao's match state exploded, scoring a 4-0 run to take an absolute lead at 9-5. Finally, Huang Youzheng/Shi Xunyao withstood the pressure, securing the victory, defeating Wong Chun Ting/Du Kai Qin 3-1, and advancing to the next round of the competition without much trouble.