Top two seeds ousted from WTT US Smash

The WTT US Smash in Las Vegas delivered major shocks on Thursday as China's top two seeds, Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu, were knocked out of the women's singles competition.

Sun, the reigning world champion and world No. 1 for nearly three years, fell 3-1 to fellow Chinese player Chen Yi. Wang also exited in four sets against Zhu Yuling of Macao, China.

Chen, 20, played with patience and seized her chances with clinical precision. She even called a tactical timeout with match point in hand before sealing her 11-9, 7-11, 11-5, 11-9 victory.

"I didn't expect to beat Sister Sha," said Chen. "I just pulled off my best game, and I am very delighted now.

"Against the world No. 1 player, I didn't have a special strategy. I regarded myself as an underdog, a challenger, and tried to fight for every point. I played pretty well at clutch moments."

Chen will face the winner of an all-Japanese clash between ninth seed Hina Hayata and sixth seed Miwa Harimoto in the quarterfinals.

Zhu Yuling, 30, who previously stepped away from China's national team to recover from cancer, pursue her studies, and later become a professor at Tianjin University, joined the Macao team last year.

"This is my 38th game since I came out of retirement," said Zhu following her 11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5 win over world No. 2 Wang.

"I didn't start well," said the former World Cup champion. "But I kept reminding myself of hanging in here despite difficulties. I turned the tables midway in both the first two sets."

Zhu will next take on either Japan's eighth seed Satsuki Odo or South Korea's 10th seed Shin Yu-bin in the quarterfinals.

China's fifth seed Kuai Man also advanced to the last eight with a straight-sets win over Cheng I-Ching of Chinese Taipei.