(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
Leo De Nodrest entered the first Spokane WTT Feeder Series event (“Spokane 1”) as World No. 102 and the sixth seed, but he left holding the trophy. Top seed Aditya Sareen lost in the Round of 16 to Yuhi Sakai. Sakai had eliminated USA’s Jishan Liang in the Round of 32. Other American reached the Round of 32 as well – Ma Jinbao fell 3-1 to Steffen Mengel, Wu Yiran fell to Borgar Haug, and Nandan Naresh had the upper hand over Leo De Nodrest before losing 3-2. Canada’s Edward Ly also pressed two rounds in before losing to Park Gyuhyeon in the Round of 32.
The Final Four were Yoshimura of Japan against Park Gyuhyeon of Korea and France’s De Nodrest against another Korean with a similar name, Park Ganghyeon. De Nodrest jumped out to a 2 game lead, and then held on for a 3-2 win over Park Ganghyeon. In the top half of the draw, it was Park Gyuhyeon dominating Kazuhiro Yoshimura. But in the Final, Leo De Nodrest finished strong, trading the first two games, and then closing out the match 3-1.
In the Women’s Singles event, all four Semifinalists were Japanese. India’s Sreeja Akula was the top seed, and she fell to eventual winner Saki Shibata. USA’s Amy Wang was the third seed, and she lost 3-1 to Finalist Kaho Akae in the Quarterfinals. Sally Moyland and Jiangshan Guo each reached the Round of 16 – including Wang, three Americans reached that round. Ultimately Saki Shibata took the title 3-1 over Kalo Akae in the All-Japanese Final.
Men’s Doubles went to the French team of Irvin Bertrand and Jules Rolland, the Women’s title went to Asuka Sasao and Anne Uesawa, and Mixed Doubles went to SWatoshi Aida and Hitomi Sato.
The next event, “Spokane II”, starts Sunday. Sareen is the top seed, De Nodrest is the fifth seed, Edward Ly of Canada is the eighth seed, and the top Americans by seed are Sid and Nandan Naresh (11th and 12th seeds).
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