Unheralded and unseeded, the USA's Wu Yue and Lily Zhang arrived in Chengdu, China for the 2019 ITTF Women's World Cup. For Wu Yue, 29, it was her third appearance at the championship, which is rivaled in prestige only by the World Championships and the Olympics. She secured a World Cup ticket with a third place finish at the Pan Am Cup. Seeking her first qualification to the main event, a 16-player single elimination bracket, Wu was ranked last in her qualification group behind Elizabeta Samara of Romania and Canada's Zhang Mo. Needing a top-two finish to advance, Wu first faced European Champion Samara. Undaunted, Wu put herself on the inside track with a (11-8, 11-9, 11-6, 18-16) scoreline. Wu's neighbor to the north Zhang Mo then did her a solid by eliminating Samara in a seven-game thriller. Thus, both North Americans secured the coveted spots in the draw, final match determining who would win the group and earn the more advantageous spot in the main draw. Zhang Mo enjoyed the historical advantage, entering the match with a 3-0 career record against Wu Yue. Today is a new day, however, and Wu declined to back in to the playoffs. Rather, she maintained her stellar form with a (11-6, 11-4, 11-5, 8-11, 11-5) win, earning a match in the sweet 16 against Austria's Sofia Polcanova. Wu Yue's American teammate Lily Zhang also came to play. Zhang, 23, qualified for the World Cup main draw in 2016 but had been unable to replicate the feat in subsequent years. A wild card entry into this year's World Cup, Zhang was also seeded last in her qualification group. Ahead of her were Romania's Bernadette Szocs and Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico. Against Szocs, Zhang never found her groove. "The first match, I was a little bit nervous," said Zhang. "I think I could have done better. The nerves got a little bit the better of me." Szocs also got the better of Zhang, winning in five games, before securing her own spot in the main draw with a win over Adriana Diaz. Thus, Zhang faced Diaz for the last chance to advance. With everything on the line, Zhang found the championship form that has earned her five US national championships (and counting), prevailing (12-10, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 13-11) over Diaz. For her efforts, Zhang earned a matchup in the sweet 16 against 2016 World Cup champion Miu Hirano of Japan. "The second match, I was able to adjust and play my game, so I'm pretty happy with that," said Zhang. "I got the wild card to play the World Cup, and I didn't have much pressure on myself... I just told myself to go out there and play my best." That she did, and the rest is history. Wu Yue and Lily Zhang have crashed the party, but who will be crowned the belle of the ball?

More at ITTF