DURBAN, South Africa - China's top-ranked Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha successfully began their ITTF World Table Tennis Championships (WTTC) Finals campaign on Monday.

After receiving a first-round bye as the tournament's top seeds in men's and women's singles, Fan overcame Greek veteran Panagiotis Gionis with a score of 4-1, while Sun secured a 4-0 victory against Amelie Solja of Austria.

Following a dominant start with two games leading 11-4, 11-4, Fan experienced stiff competition in the third game, losing 11-9 to the seasoned 43-year-old opponent, only to regain his composure, winning 11-2, 11-8 in the subsequent two games and advancing to the last 32.

"It's been a while since we last competed, so preparation is crucial on my end. Regardless of how well you prepare, you need to be able to handle spins," Fan commented.

Olympic champion Ma Long achieved a straight-game victory over Canadian Eugene Wang, despite facing challenges in his narrow 15-13 first-game victory. He never conceded more than six points in each of the following three games.

"I committed unforced errors in the first game, which made things tough. Thankfully, I didn't cave under pressure and continued to battle for every point," Ma stated, the champion of three consecutive World Championships from 2015 to 2019.

Liang Jingkun started strong in his match against Japan's Maharu Yoshimura, securing a two-game lead at 11-5, 11-5. In the third game, however, Yoshimura demonstrated resilience, overcoming a 7-10 deficit with a five-point streak. After an 11-4 victory in the fourth game, Liang rallied from 1-7 down in the fifth to win 14-12.

"Losing a game isn't detrimental, as it prepares me for tougher matches ahead," Liang noted.