(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
The WTT Contender Series visited Buenos Aires this week, and this Hemisphere’s best player did not waste the opportunity to perform well in South America. Admittedly, there’s almost three thousand miles between Hugo Calderano’s home in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the tournament venue in Argentina – but for a player who has been living in Europe and competing in major events occurring primarily in Asia, it must be nice to be “only” a three hour flight away.
Calderano was the clear favorite entering the tournament, and he dominated the draw winning five matches and losing only 2 game in total. He took the main prize, and he took it in dominating fashion – but the biggest story of the event may have been his opponent in the Final, Mizuki Oikawa. Oikawa had a great tournament, and as World No. 106, his run included three solid upsets. Oikawa had to mount a comeback to defeat Qualifier Florian Bourrassaud 3-2 in the opening round. He then fell behind second seed Oh Jungsung 0-2 before winning three straight to pull off the upset of the tournament. And he wasn’t done – a 3-1 upset win over Andre Bertelsmeier and an upset win over Manav Thakkar 3-0 launched him into the Final. He was overmatched against Calderano – but did manage to win a game as Calderano took the title 4-1.
The top seed also won the Women’s Singles event as Miwa Harimoto defeated Cheng I-Ching 4-2 in the Final. The Japanese Team of Hamada and Kobayashi won Men’s Doubles. Miwa Harimoto won her second event by teaming with Satsuki Odo to win Women’s Doubles. And, not to be outdone, Hugo Calderano won his second event by teaming up with Bruna Takahashi to win Mixed Doubles.
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