TOKYO: Japanese table tennis star Mima Ito suffered semi-final heartbreak at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday with the women's title now set to go to China once again.
The 20-year-old Ito, who already helped the host nation win their first-ever Olympic table tennis gold earlier this week, was soundly beaten by China's Sun Yingsha.
The second seed overpowered a shell-shocked Ito, the third seed, 11-3, 11-9, 11-6, 11-4 to set up a gold-medal showdown with her fellow Chinese Chen Meng.
Top seed Chen booked her finals spot with a straightforward 4-0 victory over injury-stricken Singaporean Yu Mengyu.
The 26th seed Yu, who has suffered long-standing back problems, needed a prolonged spell with the physio towards the end of her defeat.
China have won every women's singles gold stretching back to table tennis's Olympic debut in 1988, and they arrived in Tokyo seeking their fourth straight clean-sweep in the sport.
But Ito and Jun Mizutani destroyed that ambition when they beat the Chinese pairing to win the mixed doubles title on Monday, winning Japan's first ever table tennis gold.
Ito said that "the biggest failure was losing the second game", having led by six points at one stage.
"And how I started the third game was not good. What I was doing was not bad, but the results showed that we are not even close.
"There's a gulf in class."
Top seed Chen booked her finals place with a straightforward 11-6, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 victory over injury-stricken Singaporean Yu Mengyu.
The 26th seed Yu, who has suffered long-standing back problems, needed a prolonged spell with the physio towards the end of her defeat.
Yu, who was reduced to tears afterwards, said: "China's strength in singles is really beyond me.
"I tried to think of different solutions but my singles abilities and overall abilities were just not as good as Chen's."
China were pushed all the way in the men's semi-finals before finally pulling through.
Reigning Olympic champion and second seed Ma Long belatedly saw off the determined Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany 4-3 over seven thrilling games.
Ma meets compatriot Fan Zhendong for gold, but the top seed was also made to fight for it by Taiwan's 19-year-old Lin Yun-ju, before emerging over seven similarly hard-fought games.
China have won every women's singles gold stretching back to table tennis's Olympic debut in 1988 and arrived in Tokyo seeking their fourth straight clean-sweep.
But Ito and Jun Mizutani destroyed that ambition when they beat the Chinese pairing to win the mixed doubles title -- Japan's first table tennis gold.