Lily Zhang Finishes 2nd in Women’s Singles at WTT Feeder Corpus Christi, TX
by Barbara Wei
Lily Zhang (WR #46) earned 2nd place and finishes as the top American in the WTT Feeder Corpus Christi, TX. Sreeja Akula of India (WR #94), who earlier beat Amy Wang (WR #37), bested Lily in the final 3-0. Lily’s second place finish gives her 90 WR points, an important achievement in Olympic year.
Enroute to the final, Lily overcame old foes and new friends in an impressive display of endurance and mental fortitude. In the Round of 32, she overcame Zhiying(Tania) Zeng of Chile. The defensive 57-year-old is a crowd favorite in her home country of Chile, and the two had met at the 2023 Pan Am Championships and Pan Am Games, where Lily had come out on top. This time was no different as Lily took the match in straight games 11-7, 11-6 and 11-3. Lily then took out two opponents from Europe. A 3-1 win over Gaia Monfardini (ITA WR #110) and a nail biting 12-10 in the 5th win over Yuan Wan (GER WR #91). In the semifinal, she faced an old foe: Mo Zhang (CAN WR #81). The two have competed against each other for over a decade in regional competitions, so were both very familiar with each other. Despite being down 2-1, Lily was able to confidently win the match 3-2 and 11-4 in the fifth.
“This journey to the final has been really tough. It’s all nail biters. Against, Mo Zhang (CAN) we know each other really well, we’ve been playing for over 10 years against each, today was about adjusting. Last game I was able to not rush too much, and just take it point by point.” – Lily Zhang
In the final against Sreeja Akula, Lily and Sreeja played evenly throughout the first and second games. In the second game, Lily saves two game points down 8-10 to go to deuce, and earns 5 game points, but does not convert. Sreeja eventually takes the game 18-16; this shifts the momentum in her favor, and she easily takes game three 11-5.
Full US Player Results for Women’s Singles:
- Lily Zhang – Finalist
- Jiangshan Guo – Semifinalist
- Amy Wang – Quarterfinalist
- Zhen Deng – Round of 16
- Jiaqi Lin – Round of 32
- Tiffany Ke – Round of 32
- Wantong Liu – Round of 32
- Yao Tang – Round of 32
- Yishiuan Lin – Round of 32
- Mandy Yu – Round of 32
- Amber Liu – Round of 32
About WTT Feeder Corpus Christi
WTT Feeder Corpus Christi is held at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, TX, from January 15–18, 2024. Set against a backdrop of the Gulf Coast, the event has a generous prize pool of $22,500 USD and 125 world ranking points for winners and 90 for runner-ups. A total of 103 athletes from across the world, as far as Germany, India, Chile, and Nigeria participated in the event, alongside 14 US men and 12 US women players.