(by Steve Hopkins)

Top seeded Hugo Calderano met stiff competition at the WTT Star Contender Series event in Ljubijana, Slovenia this week.  Two of his three wins (in his 3-1 victory) over France’s Flavien Cotton were by the minimum 2 points in the Round of 32.  Calderano then fought back from behind twice against Taipei’s Kao Cheng-Jui in the Round of 16.  Calderano had an easier time over Tomislav Pucar in the Quarters, – winning 3-0 on his way to face Alexis Lebrun in the Semis.  Alexis logged a series of solid wins, defeating Lim Jonghoon 3-1 and then blanketing Deni Kozul 4-0, before pulling out a narrow 3-2 win over Zhou Qihao.

In the bottom half of the draw, Dang Qiu was upset by Xue Fei in the Round of 32, leaving a relatively easy path for Felix Lebrun to reach the Semis.  Felix Lebrun took out Chan Baldwin, Chen Yuanyu, and Sora Matsushima (3-0, 3-1, 3-1).  Darko Jorgic emerged to face Felix in the Semifinal.  Jorgic defeated Shunsuke Togami 3-2 in the Quarters.  The other top seed to be upset was Tomokazu Harimoto who fell 3-2 to Togami.  Togami has had great success against Harimoto – with an overall advantage in head-to-head while Harimoto has consistently performed better against other Top 25 opponents.

Semifinals and Finals will be played on Sunday.

Visit Butterflyonline.com for the latest in table tennis news and results.