Olympic champion Ma downs German hopeful Ovtcharov at Magdeburg

MAGDEBURG, Germany - The Chinese Olympic gold medalist Ma Long beat the local hopeful Dimitrij Ovtcharov 4-2 in the men's singles semifinal here on Sunday, setting up the all-Chinese final at 2020 ITTF German Open.

Ma took an early lead, winning two games 11-3 and 11-9, pushing Ovtcharov on the defensive straight away. The German rose from being two down to win the third game 13-11.

Ma tried not to make the same mistakes of Fan Zhendong as Ovtcharov returned with another win in the fourth game 15-13. The 32-year-old Chinese cruised to a 11-3 win in the fifth game.

Ovtcharov tried his best at every turn to make another seven-game thriller, but the Chinese veteran had too much in the sixth and final game 11-6.

The legendary Ma advanced to the final to meet his old friend, the world No 2 Xu Xin who outplayed their fellow teammate Lin Gaoyuan 4-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-4, 11-8) in 28 minutes.