(by Steve Hopkins, photo ITTFWorld)
The ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup concluded on Sunday in Haikou, the Capitol of China’s Hainan Island province. Wang Chuqin and Lin Shidong were the top two seeds, but Shidong fell in the Quarterfinals 3-4 to Shunsuke Togami. Tomokazu Harimoto took advantage and emerged from the bottom half of the draw to reach the Final.
Wang Chuqin’s path to the final included a 3-0 win over Izaac Quek, a 4-2 win over Zhou Qihao in the Quarters, and a dominating 4-0 win over Taipei’s Chang Yu-An in the Semifinals. In the other half of the draw, a pair of early upsets included Xiang Peng falling to Lam Siu Hang of Hong Kong and Shunsuke Togami topping Lin Shidong. With the other two top seeds in his half of the draw out, Harimoto breezed through – with 3-0, 4-0, and 4-1 wins.
Harimoto started strong in the final, winning the first and third games. Ultimately, the World No. 1 prevailed with Wang Chuqin winning the final three games for the 4-2 victory.
With the top seeds all Chinese, the biggest initial surprise in Women’s singles is that Miwa Harimoto upset Chen Xingtong (World No. 3) to join three Chinese in the final four. Sun Yingsha topped Kuai Man 4-2 in one Semifinal, and Wang Manyu defeated Harimoto in the other. This left World No. 1 Sun Yingsha against World No. 2 Wang Manyu – a match won 4-3 by Sun Yingsha.
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