Lausanne, Switzerland, September 8, 2017 – China are still unbeaten after three competition days of 2017 FIVB Women's World Grand Champions Cup action in Japan. On the penultimate day they face Russia, a team with a 1-2 win-loss record at the tournament so far. Saturday’s match between China and Russia will be their fourth encounter in the history of the World Grand Champions Cup.
Head-to-Head
• This will be the 100th match in the history of the women's Grand Champions Cup.
• Russia and China have played three of the previous 99 matches against each other. China won twice and Russia once.
• Russia claimed a straight-set victory against China at the Grand Champions Cup in 1997. China won in both 1993 (3-2) and 2001 (3-1).
• Their most recent meetings came at the 2017 World Grand Prix. In the first week, China prevailed in five sets, but in the third week Russia took revenge and won 3-1.
Russia
• Russia have lost twice and won once in the 2017 Grand Champions Cup.
• In their last participation in 2013, they won only one of their five matches. In each of their other three participations, they won at least three matches.
• Russia have yet to suffer a straight-set defeat in the Grand Champions Cup. They have claimed at least one set in all 23 matches they have played at the tournament.
• Russia lost their last match against USA in five sets. In total they have played seven five-setters, winning four and losing three. The first one they ever played at the Grand Champions Cup was against China in 1993, which they lost.
• Despite their defeat against USA, Nataliya Goncharova (27) and Tatiana Kosheleva (25) were the only players to score 20+ points in that match.
China
• China have won all their three matches so far at this tournament, all with different score lines. After a 3-1 win over USA and a 3-2 win over Brazil, they won 3-0 against Korea on Friday.
• Once, China recorded back-to-back straight-set victories in the Grand Champions Cup as they defeated Japan and Korea in 2001 in their third and fourth matches of the tournament.
• China conceded only 30 points versus Korea, fewest for a team in a Grand Champions Cup match in 2017.
• Only in 2001 they won their first four matches of the Grand Champions Cup, which led to their only tournament victory.
• China are now unbeaten in their last six matches at the Grand Champions Cup, which is already a record run for them in the competition.