(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
When the dust settled at the WTT Star Contender series event at Sao Jose dos Campos, it was the favorites that rose to the top with the highest seeds winning both of the singles events. In Men’s Singles, Hugo Calderano (World No. 8) who was the top seed that reached the Final to face Alexis Lebrun (World No. 11). The two players are only separated by 3 positions in the World Rankings, and the Final showed just how close they are as it went down to 11-9 in the final game – a 4-3 win for Calderano.
Earlier in the day, Yukiya Uda pressed Calderano to the limits. The scores in Calderano’s 3-2 win included an easy opening win of 11-5 giving Calderano the early lead. The next three games were marathons with Udo winning the first two at 17-15 and 14-12, and then Calderano winning the longest 21-19. The final game was 11-8 for Calderano. In the other Semifinal, Alexis Lebrun won a tight 14-12 first game, and then cruised to a 3-0 win (11-5 and 11-5).
Women’s Singles top seed Hina Hayata fell behind 0-2 in her Semifinal match against Honoka Hashimoto, but Hayata closed with three dominant games to win 3-2 and advance. In the bottom half of the draw it was Hitomi Sato quickly defeating Miyu Nagasaki 3-0. Sato twice led in the final winning the first and third games, but Hayata won the second game and the fourth game, and then took the final two games for the -2 win.
The top seeds won Men’s Doubles as well. Wong Chun Ting and Chan Baldwin were pressed in nearly every match. They won the first over USA’s Kanak Jha and England’s Tom Jarvis 3-1, they topped Jorgic and Kozul 3-2, the defeated Bertelsmeier and Verdonschot 3-2, and then won the Final over the French team of Seyfried and Picard 3-2.
In Women’s Doubles, Hitomi Sato and Saki Shibata were the top seeds, but they fell to Hina Hayata and Kaho Akae. When the won the final, Hayata doubled up on first place finishes – adding the Doubles crown to her Singles win. Hugo Calderano and Bruna Takahashi were the top seeds in Mixed Doubles, and they had a great run to the Final. However, Japan’s Shunsuke Togami and Satsuki Odo won the Final 3-1.
The next stop on the tour is the WTT Champions in Yokohama Japan which will start on August 4th.
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