World top player Ma Lin of China set a showdown with Kalinikos Greanga in the final at the ITTF Men 's World Cup table tennis tournament after their unexpected easy victories in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Ma, who beat teammate Wang Liqin in their last two battles, left no more chances to the former world champion Wang, winning one more time 4-1 (11-8, 11-9, 3-11, 11-4, 11-6).

The 23-year-old Ma said, "I was not aggressive enough because I was playing with my teammate. We are too familiar with each other. Wang was unlucky for some crucial points in the first three games."

Wang admitted that he was not at his best form compared with Ma. "Ma is in a better shape than me as he has collected five titles at the Korean Open and China Open. But I feel better after each matches I played in the event."

After an easy win 4-0 over the stable Russian Alexei Smirnov in the quarter finals, Greanga took another comfortable victory over Jean-Michel Saive of Belgium by 4-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-9, 11-1) though Saive led at the beginning of the first three games.

Saive, 34, a 4-3 winner over Chinese young star Wang Hao in the quarterfinals, said, "It is a pity that I lost the first three games even though I took the lead. And after that I lost my rhythm and patience."

Greanga, bronze medalist at the World Championships in Paris, France, in last May, said, "I knew that Saive is in a good shape. He beat Wang Hao. He had chances but he slowed down at the end of each game."

Looking forward the clash against Ma in the final on Sunday, Greanga said, "I lost to Ma in our previous six encounters. He is in good shape as he only lost one or two sets in recent matches. He is really fast and always finishes the points directly."

"I will try my best to improve my game scores against Ma in the final compared with our match last time," Greanga said.

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