China's Ma Long reacts during men's singles semifinal of table tennis aganist Japan's Jun Mizutani at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 11, 2016. Ma Long won 4-2. (Xinhua/Shen Bohan)
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Table tennis world No. 1 Ma Long overcame a late stumble to beat sixth-ranked Japanese Jun Mizutani 4-2 and made the men' s singles final here on Thursday at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Leading 3-0 on sets, the 27-year-old Ma trailed 4-8 in the fourth set with several extra high-level forehand hits from Mizutani.
Nailing three points in a row to narrow the gap to 7-8, Ma seemed confident to launch a comeback to seal the victory, but failed to resist his rival' s top spin attack and lost it 11-7.
Almost the same process repeated in the following set, which Ma was edged 12-10, but the world championships and World Cup title holder took back control of the game in the sixth and nipped it 11-5 to round up the semifinal clash.
Later on Thursday, Ma' s fellow Chinese Zhang Jike, the Grand Slam winner and defending champion here, will meet 40-year-old Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus.
