DORTMUND, GERMANY, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese men had no difficulties in advancing to the semifinals of the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Dortmund on Friday.
The top seeds beat the No. 6 Austria of the world 3-0. Reigning world champion Zhang Jike defeated Chen Weixing 3-0 ( 11-8, 11-8, 12-10), Ma Lin lost one game against Robert Gardos (11-9, 10-12, 11-9, 11-7) and Ma Long went past Daniel Habesohn in straight sets (11-8, 11-4, 11-9).
"The Austria team is very familiar to us," Zhang Jike said. "We played well today and had an advantage. Besides that I felt that the atmosphere in the stadium is very different than the past days. This could be a help for hosts Germany, but we must think about the next opponent first, than the final."
The next opponent of China will be Chinese Taipei or South Korea. Japan and Germany will play for the other semifinal spot.