Lily Zhang Exits China Smash in the First Round, Falling 3-0 to Honoka Hashimoto
Beijing, October 5 — American player Lily Zhang (Zhang An) was eliminated in the first round (round of 64) of the women's singles at the 2026 WTT China Smash on October 5, losing 3-0 to Japan's Honoka Hashimoto at Shougang Park in Beijing. Hashimoto, a defensive chopper, closed out the match on Table 3, taking the third game 11-5.
The China Smash runs from October 1 to 11 and is the fourth and final Grand Smash on the 2026 WTT calendar, with a total purse of $2.05 million and 2,000 world ranking points for the singles champions. According to USA Table Tennis (USATT), Zhang and Amy Wang were seeded directly into the main draw and were the only two American women to reach the round of 64 in singles; Zhang also played women's doubles with Sally Moyland.
Zhang was born in 1996 in Redwood City, California, to parents from China. A six-time U.S. national women's singles champion, she has represented the United States at four Olympic Games — London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 — and was ranked No. 32 in the world in the week of September 28. (GSM, based on WTT event data and USATT reporting)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：张安（右，名牌标注Lily ZHANG）在2024年巴黎奥运会期间出席发布会（资料照片）。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons（CC BY-SA 4.0）。Photo: Lily Zhang (right) at a press conference during the Paris 2024 Olympics (file photo). Source: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
