体坛英语新闻：Top seed Xu beats teammate Yan to reach World Cup semifinals

VERVIERS, Belgium, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Top seed Xu Xin of China beat teammate Yan An in straight sets to reach the semifinals of the men's table tennis World Cup here on Saturday.

Xu, who fought back from 1-3 to snatch a 4-3 win over Tang Peng of Hong Hong, China earlier in the morning, met little challenge, winning 11-7, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4.

The 23-year-old will vie for the final berth against Olympic bronze medalist Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany, a 4-1 winner over Tang.

With the absence of another two Chinese teammates Ma Long, the defending champion, and Zhang Jike, the double Olympic champion and world titlist, Xu has been expected to take the title with ease.

"I don't want to impose too much pressure upon myself. It will be a difficult match against Ovtcharov, especially here at Belgium. All the fans will be surpporting European players," said Xu, who lost to Ma Long in last year's World Cup in Liverpool, England.

In the other matches, Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus eliminated Chuang Chih-Yuan of Chinese Taipei 4-1 while Germany's Timo Boll defeated Marcos Freitas of Portugal 4-0.

Boll and Samsonov will figtht for the other final berth on Sunday.