LONDON -- Top seed Zhang Jike of China beat Jiang Tianhyi of Chinese Hong Kong in five sets to cruise into the men's singles semifinals at the Olympic table tennis tournament on Wednesday.
The world champion, world number one and hot favorite won 11-4, 8-11, 11-4, 11-9 and 11-6 against his childhood good friend Jiang, No. 11 seed.
Zhang, appearing very relax, said he felt less pressured than two days ago. "I feel much better now. The pressure was huge two days ago. Jiang and I are very familiar with each other. So I feel more comfortable today."
Zhang narrowly made into the quarterfinals on Sunday, after being dragged into a tight seven-set match against five-time Olympian, Belarus' Vladimir Samsonov.
Zhang will face Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the semifinals. Ovtcharov entered the top four after a seven-set tight match against Denmark's Michael Maze on Tuesday.
Zhang's teammate Wang Hao, seeded No. 2, comfortably booked a seat in the semifinal after beating Japan's Seiya Kishikawa in four straight sets.
Wang will face Chuang Chih-Yuan of Chinese Taipei, No. 5 seed, in the semifinal.
