(by Steve Hopkins)
The top seeds fell one by one at the WTT Champions Montpellier this week. USA’s Kanak Jha dropped the top seed, Hugo Calderano, on Wednesday – trailing twice before closing out the final two games to win 3-2. Felix Lebrun (the third seed) lasted until Thursday, winning his opening match and then falling to Simon Gauzy 3-2. The elder Lebrun brother (Alexis) took out the second seeded Tomokazu Harimoto 3-2 on Friday. This left only Truls Moregard as a top 4 seed to make it through to the Semifinals.
The carnage wasn’t limited to the top seeds. All of the Chinese players in the Men’s draw lost their opening match – with Chun Yuanyu losing to Jang Woojin, Xiang Peng upset by Patrick Franziska, and Wen Rubio losing to Oh Junsung. Lin Yun-Ju fell to Korea Republic’s Jang Woojin – Woojin went on to reach the Semifinal. Dang Qiu took out Benedikt Duda. Darko Jorgic lost to Alexis Lebrun – two consecutive upsets for a French player to make it to Sunday’s Semifinal. And with the upsets all around him, Sora Matsushima managed to wind his way through the draw by beating three well-known Euro players in a row (Lind, Franziska, Gauzy), but without having to face Felix Lebrun or Xiang Peng who both fell to upsets before facing him. Sunday’s Men’s Semifinals will be Jang Woojin versus Sora Matsushima and Truls Moregard versus Alexis Lebrun.
The upsets on the Women’s side were even more pronounced. Chen Xingtong (World No. 3), Kuai Man (World No. 4), Zhu Yuling ( World No. 6), Mima Ito (World No. 9) all lost in the opening round. Bernadette Szocs took out Chen Xingtong. Elizabeta Samara defeated Mima Ito. Adriana Diaz topped Zhu Yuling, and Kuai Man fell to Kim Nayeong. *None of those that took out the higher player advanced past the next round – so the draw stabilized pretty quickly with the remaining top seeds moving forward. The Semifinals will be Sabine Waters of Germany against Shin Yubin of the Korea Republic and China’s Wang Yidi against Korea Republic’s Joo Sheonhui.
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