Li Xiaoxia beats off Fukuhara for straight second women's singles final in Olympics

Li Xiaoxia of China reacts during her Women's Singles table tennis semifinal against Ai Fukuhara of Japan in the Rio Olympics, Aug 10, 2016.  [Photo/Xinhua]

RIO DE JANEIRO - Defending champion Li Xiaoxia went one step closer to make history as the third seed here made short work of Ai Fukuhara on Wednesday morning to book a place in the Rio Olympic table tennis women' s singles final.

There' s no paddler in the sport' s 28-year history as one of the Olympic Games program to have won back-to-back individual championship.

Li beat Fukuhara in straight sets, 11-4, 11-3, 11-1, 11-1.

Leading 9-1 into the first set, the 28-year-old Li denied a late comeback from the sixth-seeded Japanese to win 11-4, before improving it to 2-0 on sets.

Kong Linghui, head coach of the Chinese women' s table tennis team as well as a Grand Slam winner himself, called a timeout for Li when she Led 2-0 and 4-1 in the third set, before the women' s Slam winner came back to the court and just let her opponent win a single score.

Later on Wednesday morning, the other women' s singles semifinal will pit twice world champion Ding Ning of China and DPR Korea' s defensive player Kim Song-I as the final and the third-place play-off are scheduled in the evening.