China's Chen Meng competes against Switzerland's Rachel Moret during her women's singles round 3 table tennis match at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo on July 26, 2021. (ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP)

TOKYO - China's Chen Meng, the world's top ranked table tennis player, overwhelmed Swiss opponent Rachel Moret on Monday in the third round of the women's singles to move one step closer to gold on her Olympic debut.

Chen beat Moret 4-0 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium to ease her way into the last 16.

Nicknamed Da Meng, or "big dream", the world's top ranked table tennis player Chen Meng said her dream would be "to give my everything to win the women's singles gold"

"It was smoother than I imagined. Before the match, I prepared fully. I watched the mixed doubles opening round here to get a feel of everything," said Chen.

"With each round the opponents will get stronger and stronger. I'm going to treat every match like life or death," the 27-year-old added.

Nicknamed Da Meng, or "big dream", Chen said her dream would be "to give my everything to win the women's singles gold."

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China has won 28 of the 32 gold medals awarded in the sport since it was added to the program at the 1988 Games, including all eight women's singles titles.

China's Chen Meng competes during the table tennis women's singles third round match against Switzerland's Rachel Moret at the 2020 Summer Olympics on July 26, 2021, in Tokyo. (KIN CHEUNG / AP)

Men's singles medal favourite Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan had a rough start, including scraping the middle finger on his dominant right hand when hitting a backhand shot during the second game.

But Harimoto said it was "a lucky injury" that allowed him to regain his composure. The 18-year-old went on to seal a 4-1 victory.

Elsewhere, 40-year-old veteran Timo Boll came back from losing the first game to Kazakhstan's Kirill Gerassimenko to win 4-1.

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China and Japan will compete for the first gold in the mixed doubles event later on Monday.