Fan Zhendong plays with South Korea's Jeong Sageun in the final of the men's singles at the ITTF Asian Championships in Wuxi on April 16. (Photo/ chinadaily.com.cn)
Despite not having competed internationally for more than a year and arriving at the championships without a world ranking, Jeong represented a dangerous opponent for the 20-year-old defending champion.
The unseeded Korean's run to the final had been the stuff of fairytales, dumping table tennis legend Ma Long out of the competition in the third round before pulling off a barely believable comeback in the semifinal against fifth seed Koki Niwa, bludgeoning his way back from 2-0 down to win an epic final game 13-11.
But if Fan felt the weight of the screaming fans in Wuxi and the millions watching on CCTV5 on his shoulders, he did not show any sign of it.
Perhaps the arrival of Fan's Chinese teammate and semifinal opponent Zhang Jike in the stands at the start of the match helped relieve the pressure on him, as the two finalists out the opening points almost unnoticed by a large section of the crowd that was too busy straining to snap a photo of the handsome star.
Jeong started the match in exactly the same style that had served him so well throughout the tournament: Throwing caution to the wind and trying to hit winners on almost every single shot.
But in Fan, the world number two, Jeong had finally met an opponent with even more rapid reflexes and aggression than himself, and Fan got the better of the early pinball-like exchanges to win the first game 11-5.
Jeong's wild play had begun to undermine him as he smashed a string of balls long or into the net, enabling Fan to take the second game by the same scoreline.
But Jeong rallied once more as the third game got underway, and the match turned into a thrilling shoot-out as both players refused to retreat from the table.
The ball was often rocketing across the table so fast it was almost impossible to keep track of until a mishit sent it pinging into the press box.
At 9-8 it felt the game could go either way, but then Fan showed his class by pulling out an unbelievable shot to take a crucial 10-8 lead, bending back almost horizontal like Neo in the Matrix to reach a vicious Jeong missile before somehow sending a forehand beyond his Korean opponent.
Fan didn't have to wait long to clinch the match, Jeong fittingly whipping another wild forehand into the net to hand Fan the match (11-5, 11-5, 11-8) and the championship.
The deafening cheers of the packed Wuxi Sports Center spoke of joy at yet another Chinese victory, the sixth in seven events at the championships, but also of relief that the unthinkable had been averted.
Team China will now head to the World Championships in Germany in May chastened, but perhaps even more focused than before.
After Wuxi, nobody in the Chinese team can be complacent about the challenge they face from resurgent Japanese and Korean teams.
