(by Steve Hopkins) When Xiang Peng, a highly ranked 19 year old Chinese player, defeated China’s 17 year old phenom Lin Shidong, it looked like he might ride his momentum all the way to the title.  But the highest ranked player remaining, had a different idea.  Korea’s Jang Woojin dominated Benedek Olah 4-0 in the […]

Otocec Slovenia is the host of the WTT Feeder event this week and the top four seeds are already out before the Semifinals even start on Sunday.   If the tournament had gone by seed, Andrej Gacina and Marcos Freitas might have faced off in the Final.  But with Marek Badowski topping Gacina in the Round […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Dang Qiu (World No. 10)is in the World Top 10 for the first time and Lin Yun-Ju jumps up two spots to World No. 6.  The rest of the Top 10 remains stable with Jorgic dropping to No. 8 and Quadri Aruna falling from just out of the top 10 to eleventh. […]

(by Steve Hopkins) If there was any question, Dimitrij Ovtcharov has let the world know that he is fully recovered from injury.  He pulled away in each of the first three games against Dang Qiu winning 11-6, and 11-8, largely using careful play and then dominating with big backhands.  But towards the end of the […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Lin Yun-Ju entered the tournament in Zagreb as the fourth seed.  His path became easier when Truls Moregard fell to Patrick Franziska – Lin Yun-Ju was able to beat the No. 12 ranked Fraziska (instead of the No. 5 ranked Moregard).  The biggest story of the tournamnent was Chinese World Junior’s Champ […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Saturday morning, Dimitrij Ovtcharov topped Simon Gauzy 3-1 in the Quarterfinals before defeating Anton Kallberg 4-2 in the Semifinals.  As the second seed, Dima’s run was not unexpected.  The unexpected story of the event is the rise of the other Finalist, Dan Qiu also capped off an impressive run winning twice on […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The Top Seed in Zagreb, Truls Moregard, fell Saturday to Patrick Franziska.  Franziska then fell to Lin Yun-Ju in the Semifinals.  Yun-Ju had defeated Liang Guodong, a Chinese qualifier, in their Quarterfinal match.  The other Chinese qualifier to make the Quarters is Xiang Peng.  Peng upset Tomokazu Harimoto in the Round of […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The Top Seed in Zagreb, Truls Moregard, has cruised to the Quarterfinals – he will face Patrick Franziska on Saturday morning.  Lin Yun-Ju has also advanced easily – and he is set to face up and coming Chinese player Liang Guodong.  Xiang Peng, another Chinese qualifier, upset Tomokazu Harimoto on Friday.  Peng […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Dimitrij Ovtcharov had a tough opening match, scoring a tough 3-2 win over Joao Monteiro.  Ovtcharov then downed Chen Chien-An 3-1 to advance to the Quarternfinals.  Ovtcharov will face Simon Gauzy, who won both of his early matches handily. Top seeded Hugo Calderano fell to Kang Dongsoo in the Round of 16.  […]