Going back in history, when we look at Liu and Guo Yue, two of the leading table tennis players, we see a significant difference in the timing of their breakthroughs in the World Series. Back in 2007, at the tender age of 19, Guo beat Zhang Yining in the semi-finals of the Women's Singles, and then went on to win the Women's Singles World Championships with a stunning performance against her counterpart, Li, in the final!
By comparison, Liu won her first women's singles title in the World Series only in 2019, when she was 28 years old!
However, from this perspective, Guo Yue's results in the World Series seem to be even better.
But when it came to the World Cup, Guo Yue's performance was overshadowed. Despite competing five times, she never came close to winning the title, while Liu competed six times and won five times!
Participated in five World Cup women's singles tournaments, Guo Yue has never been a champion, on the contrary, Liu, six times to participate in five wins!
So why has Guo Yue participated in five World Cups and never made it to the top?
The reason for this really lies in the differences in the competitors the two face.
In 2015, 17-year-old Guo Yue stepped onto the World Cup stage for the first time. At that time, she played alongside Zhang Yining and Guo Yan.
However, in the quarterfinals, Guo Yue defeated Zhang Yining and failed to advance to the quarterfinals.
At that time, Guo Yue's opponents included Grand Slam champion Zhang Yining and World Series runner-up Guo Yan.
And Liu made her World Cup debut in 2009. At that time, she competed with Li and...
As a result, Liu first defeated Lee and then beat his opponent in the final to win the title.
In 2007, 19-year-old Guo Yue participated in the World Cup for the second time. This time, she played with Grand Slam winners such as Wang Nan and Zhang Yining.
Unfortunately, Guo Yue lost to Zhang Yining again in the semifinals.
This time, her opponents were also two Grand Slam winners, Wang Nan and Zhang Yining.
In 2012, Liu participated in the Women's World Cup for the second time. At that time, she competed with Li, but withdrew due to injury.
In the end, Liu won his second World Cup singles title alone, beating Samara in the final!
Liu's opponents this time around were mainly out-of-conference players and not in direct competition with his teammates.
In 2008, Guo Yue participated in the World Cup for the third time. This time, Li and Guo Yue played together.
As a result, Guo lost to Singapore's Feng Tianwei in the quarterfinals.
It is important to realize that Feng Tianwei, at that time, had five heated battles with Zhang Yining at the Beijing Olympics, with the score of each match being more than 10 draws! It can be said that at that time Feng Tianwei's momentum was fierce!
Liu and's third World Cup was in 2013. It was in that year that Wu Yang, who had brought Liu, competed in the tournament.
Liu had a great World Cup. Sweeping Wu Yang 4-0 in the finals. This time, Liu's opponent was Wu Yang, a chopper!
In 2009, Guo Yue participated in the World Cup for the fourth time. This time, Li and Liu competed with the same field.
As a result, Guo Yue lost to Liu and did not qualify for the final!
Liu's fourth World Cup came in 2015, when a teenage Zhu Yuling joined Team Liu.
This time, Liu beat the Japanese player in the final to win her fourth Women's Singles World Cup title!
In 2010, Guo Yue participated in the World Cup for the fifth time. This time, Guo Yan and Guo Yue participated in the World Cup together.
As a result, Guo Yue was swept by Hong Kong, China's Jiang Huajun 0-4 in the semifinals! The final title was snatched away by Guo Yan!
Liu's fifth World Cup was in 2017. This time, Zhu Yuling, a teenager, still competes with Liu.
As a result, Liu lost to Zhu Yuling in the final after seven hard-fought games!
Liu's sixth World Cup took place in 2019. By then, Liu had already won the women's singles title at the World Cup, while Zhu Yuling was still competing with Liu.
At this point, Zhu Yuling had hit a career low. Finally, in the final, Liu defeated Zhu Yuling to win the World Cup for the fifth time!
In contrast to Liu, Guo Yue competed in five tournaments but did not win a single title.
The main reason is that his competitors were Zhang Yining and Wang Nan several times earlier.
Zhang Nan retired to face Feng Tianwei and Jiang Huajun, two overseas ping pong teams!
In Liu's six World Cups, his opponents have been Lee and except for the first time.
In the rest of the tournament, the participants were not too strong, and there was no direct competition with Li Dingning, the top two main players of the Chinese women's ping-pong at that time.
That's why Liu was able to achieve the Five Crowns!
So here's the question.
As one of the two talented young girls in the Chinese women's game, Guo Yue won the World Series women's singles title at the age of 19, but did not win the World Cup.
Liu won the World Series women's singles title at the age of 28, but the World Cup quintuple crown!
Who do you think is the better of the two? Who is the real girl genius?
