(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT)

The last two WTT events saw the rise of Wen Ruibo, a talented 19-year old who finished second and then first in successive WTT events.  This week, Ruibo (now World No. 24) was the top seed at the WTT Feeder series event in Doha.  Unfortunately, he did not perform well as a favorite – a 3-1 loss to Nikita Artemenko.  To his defense, Artemenko isn’t a typical low ranked player, he has been one of the best players in Russia for many years and his ranking is artificially low as his opportunities have been limited to play internationally.  Still, Ruibo’s streak of deep runs is done – replaced this week by a run by the tricky Russian that didn’t end until a 3-1 loss to Huang Youzheng in the Semifinals.

Youzheng is the lead story in Doha this week.  A 3-1 win over Lee Seungsoo, then wins over Xu Haidong and Yuan Licen brought him to the Semifinals where he defeated Artemekno.  And in the Final, it was Huang Youzheng topping Japan’s Ryoichi Yoshiyama 3-2.  Huang Youzheng, like Ruibo and others in the next crop of great Chinese players, is just 20 years old.  He is currently World No. 43, but this is another player rising quickly through the rankings.

The next big event on the calendar is the Singapore Smash which will start on February 19.

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