Singapore paddler Yu Mengyu will play for third place at the Asian Cup on Saturday, after going down 9-11, 8-11, 4-11, 8-11 to world No. 2 and Olympic table tennis silver medallist Ding Ning of China in the semi-finals on Friday night.

The top-four finish, however, is the world no. 23's best showing at the annual event. The tournament has attracted some of the world's best this year, with the World Team Table Tennis Championships just a month away. Yu finished eighth last year and was fifth at the 2012 edition.

She upset world No. 19 Seok Ha Jung of South Korea 11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 8-11, 11-9, 12-10 in the quarter-finals earlier on Friday.

Yu's team-mate Feng Tianwei, however, had a tougher campaign in Wuhan, China. She lost 11-13, 9-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-13 to Ding in their quarter-final clash, but avenged her group stage loss to Seok when she beat her 11-7, 11-4, 11-13, 7-11, 11-8, 11-6 in the playoff for fifth to eighth place. Feng will play Lee Ho Ching of Hong Kong on Saturday for fifth position.