"Three is a magic number," posits no less an authority than Schoolhouse Rock! While magic is notoriously difficult to define, quantify or otherwise analyze, there can be no doubt that it was a good week for those ranked third in the world. Take Sun Yingsha, the world #3 from China. At the world premiere of World Table Tennis (WTT), held from November 25-29 in Macao, China, Sun was seeded second behind teammate Chen Meng, the world #1 and prohibitive favorite. After stumbling in the opening rounds, Sun was demoted to the fourth seed. Sun soon found her footing, however, and bested teammates Wang Yidi and Wang Manyu to reach the final. There, she met not the dreaded Chen Meng but the Cinderella of the ball, Chen Xingtong, who had upset not only Chen Meng but reigning Olympic champion Ding Ning to reach the finals. Sun was not fazed by the pressure of being favored in the final. "I did not play too well in the early stages of WTT Macao, so in this final I told myself to enjoy the match, no matter how many difficulties faced, and to do myself proud," she said. Indeed, Sun seemed perfectly at ease in the bright lights of the novel tournament. With a poker face that would make Lady Gaga gaga, Sun summarily dictated the pace of the best-of-nine match, never allowing the "Comeback Queen" Chen Xingtong to get any traction. The final scoreline of (11-10, 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4) earned Sun the first ever WTT championship. "Chen Xingtong has made plenty of progress this year and I can learn from her in terms of her patience and ability to not make unforced errors," Sun graciously allowed. Meanwhile, over in the gentlemen's draw, familiar faces faced eager upstarts. Unlike the all-Chinese women's semifinal, however, a lone holdout from abroad in the form of Sweden's Mattias Falck managed to make the final four. This created the possibility of a rematch of the 2019 World Championship final between Falck and China's Ma Long, the world #3 (pictured). While Ma won that contest, securing his third consecutive World Championship, there would be no rematch today in Macao as Falck fell to Ma's compatriot Wang Chuqin. After navigating his way past his up-and-coming left-handed teammate Lin Gaoyuan in the semis, Ma Long found himself in the first-ever WTT men's singles final. No stranger to the big stage, the 32-year-old reigning Olympic champion Ma turned back the clock and put on a clinic for the 25-year-old Lin, securing the title with an efficient (11-5, 11-9, 11-4, 11-5, 10-11, 11-8) performance. "I have never lost a match in Macao," beamed an incredulous Ma. "This is my lucky place!" As with world #3 Sun Yingsha, the third-ranked Ma Long found three to be a magic number in Macao.

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