Today in Weihai, China, the 2020 ITTF Women's World Cup officially got the ball rolling. The first of the ITTF's #RESTART series, the prestigious event bore added significance for the sport in general, and for two Americans in particular. Incumbent US women's champion Lily Zhang played in a group of four, three of whom hailed from North America. Her opening round matchup was with Margaryta Pesotska, the lone dissenter from Ukraine. The first point was attended with great ceremony, marking the first official ITTF senior competition in 238 days. After Zhang's forehand sailed long, the pair got a standing ovation. Zhang and Pesotska, of course, had not traveled halfway around the world to stand on ceremony. They promptly got back to work, with the Ukrainian ultimately prevailing in six hard-fought games. Zhang regrouped in the next round to knock off top seed Adriana Diaz, the Puerto Rican who stands in the way of Zhang's outright Pan-American dominance. Diaz built a 2-0 lead, only to squander it as Zhang roared back with four straight to keep the final standings thoroughly enshrouded in mystery. It all came down to a thriller against Canada's Zhang Mo. Down 9-10 in game 7, and facing an early trip home, Lily stayed calm and carried on to win 13-11. As a result, Lily Zhang, Diaz and Pesotska finished in a three-way tie. With only two players advancing, the unfortunate victim of tie-breaking bean-counting was Pesotska, as Diaz and Zhang advanced on point differentials. Zhang, seeded second, finished first. "I feel tired, happy and relieved, all at the same time right now. I’m just happy to have made it over the line today," said Zhang, who faces world #9 Feng Tianwei of Singapore tomorrow. Zhang's American teammate, Wu Yue, had a day in the sun Sunday. Seeded third in her group behind Germany's Petrissa Solja and Chinese Taipei's Chen Szu-Yu, Wu needed at least one upset to secure one of the two places in the main draw for which each group competed. Wu appeared well on her way to securing her golden ticket right out of the gate, storming out to a 3-0 lead against Solja. Doubt began to creep in, however, as Solja battled back to square the match. In the deciding seventh game, Wu got her attack back on track to thwart the near-comeback, 11-9, knocking off the top seed, 4-3. With work guaranteed for Monday, Wu set out to improve her seeding as she squared off against Chen Szu-Yu. In another nail-biter, Wu nearly pulled off another upset before succumbing to Chen, 13-11 in the seventh. Nevertheless, she advances to face Cheng I-Ching, also from Chinese Taipei, on Monday. With two American women upsetting the prescribed order to play among the final 16 of the World Cup, there can be no question that it is once again morning in America.

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