(by Steve Hopkins)
The WTT Contender Series in Muscat Oman is down to the Final Weekend. In much of the Middle East, Sunday is the start of the workweek, so the Finals will be on Saturday.
Top seed, Tomokazu Harimoto continued his inconsistent Fall, with a Quarterfinal loss to Anton Kallberg 3-2. Harimoto has had some big wins, and has fallen victim to some major upsets as he tweaks his game and conditioning with an eye towards the big end-of-year tournaments. For Kallberg, he continues to log small gains as he fights to move up the rankings – now at World No. 23, but hoping to eclipse his career best No. 15 ranking.
Another player with inconsistent results this year is Hugo Calderano, who entered this event as the second seed. Calderano was down 0-2 to France’s Jules Rolland in the second round, but managed to win three in a row to stay alive. A day later, Calderano fell behind 0-2 to Simon Gauzy in the Semifinals and again staged a come back for a 3-2 win. Calderano is now in the Final, waiting for the winner of Anton Kallberg and Liam Pitchford. The other top seeds fell early. Gauzy eliminated Patrick Franziska in the first round 3-1, Ovtcharov fell to Oh Junsung in the opening round, Sora Matsushima defeated Quadri Aruna 3-2 in the first round, and Liam Pitchford topped Lin Yun-Ju 3-1 in the second round.
On the women’s side, Adriana Diaz has fought through three tight 3-2 matches on her way to the Final. She outlasted Japan’s Miwa Harimoto in the Semifinals earlier today and now awaits the winner of the Hina Hayata and Miyu Nagasaki Semifinal this evening.
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