Player list:
https://www.worldtabletennis.com/eventInfo?selectedTab=Player%20List&eventId=3128... The top 10 men's seeds are Lin Shidong, Hugo Calderano (upset Lin the last time they played), Harimoto Tomokazu (also lost to Calderano last time they played), Liang Jingkun (also lost to Calderano last time they played), Felix Lebrun (upset Calderano last time they played?), Truls Moregard, Darko Jorgic, Xiang Peng, Benedikt Duda and Lin Yun-ju.
The top 10 women's seeds are Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Chen Xingtong, Kuai Man, Wang Yidi, Harimoto Miwa, Zhu Yuling, Itoh Mima, Ohdo Satsuki, and Chen Yi (the Chinese now have 6 women in the top-10 again which I believe is a record for them).
Penholders... For the men, it'll be Felix Lebrun, Dang Qiu, and Wong Chun Ting. On the women's side, it'll be Yu Fu and Shan Xiaona.
Pips-out/anti-spin players... On the men's side, the only one who got thru qualis was Luka Mladenovic (anti-spin/bh), the Luxembourg no. 1. and the no. 3 chopblocker in the world, behind Ylane Batix (long pips/bh) and Amirreza Abbasi (long pips/bh?), who both lost in the qualis. As for the women, it's more, as per usual: Itoh Mima (short pips/bh), Hashimoto Honoka (chopper), He Zhuojia (long pips/bh), Yuan Jianan (short pips/fh), Han Ying (chopper), Liu Yangzi (short pips/bh), Sabine Winter (anti-spin/bh--had match point on Wang Yidi last week, but failed to convert), Jee Min-hyung (medium pips/bh?), Sreeja Akula (long pips/bh), Zhang Mo (short pips/fh), Manika Batra (long pips/bh), Linda Bergstrom (chopper), Yuan Wan (short pips/fh--plays doubles with Winter), Shan Xiaona (short pips on both sides?), Yu Fu (short pips/bh?--I recently saw that she does actually use them), Choi Hyo-joo (short pips/bh?) and YD Ghorpade (long pips/bh).
Americans... All the Americans who went thru qualis were eliminated, so the only ones left in the main draw are the US no. 1 man and woman, Kanak Jha and LIly Zhang, and the PR no. 1 woman, Adriana Diaz, who's paired up in the mixed doubles with Anders Lind, the Danish no. 1 and now a top-20 player. They play in the first match on the TV table (in the Renaissance Arena) at 6 am our time (Sweden is 6 hrs. ahead of us). And then at 2:20 pm, Anders LInd has to come back out and play Kanak on the TV Table. I think that's a tough but winnable match for Kanak. I don't think Lind moves well, so I think Kanak needs to jerk him around with short serves and then a 3rd ball attack or a long push, but also drop shots. I think Kanak's upset of Dang Qiu was huge. He beat Qiu with the short game, even though he doesn't appear to be comfortable playing the short game. I think Kanak should continue to practice the short game and become comfortable with it.
Oh wait--I'm looking at the player list again and I don't see LIly's name now--I guess she must have pulled out again? She pulled out of the last event after upsetting Doo Hoi Kem the first time in her career, after losing the 10 previous times. Guo Jiangshan, our top chopblocker, went thru qualis and took out Ece Harac ("EH-jay HA-ratch") of Turkey in spectacular fashion. You might remember I said last year that Harac appeared to know exactly how to play pips/anti-on-the-bh players. Anyhow, in the next round, Guo got trounced by Charlotte Lutz of France who also appears to know how to play players like Guo. It seemed like Lutz finished every point with a smash or loop-kill. If anybody wants to learn how play against pips/anti-on-the-bh players, go watch the Guo Jiangshan vs. Charlotte Lutz match from yesterday in the qualis. Lutz' tactics were perfect