(by Steve Hopkins)
The first WTT Champions series event of 2026 is underway in Doha, with first round matches concluding today. The biggest upset thus far is Dimitrij Ovtcharov (World No. 29) toppling World No. 3 Hugo Calderano 3-2. Ovtcharov was dialed in early, playing carefully to open with precise placement and control helping him gain an early lead and then maintain that for an 11-8 win. The second game opened up with both players hitting stronger shots and Calderano won pretty easily striking crisply and hitting winner after winner. Ovtcharov opened the third game very careful again – slow openings to points and then carefully places rolls, mostly to Calderano’s backhand. Following the scrips of the first game, Ovtcharov opened an early lead and then maintained it to the 11-5 win. A mix of strong short openings and powerful winners gave Calderano an early lead in the fourth game but Ovtcharov fought back to 8-8 before Calderano turned the pace up and pounded 3 winners out of the final four rallies. Tied at 2 games all, we saw the winning strategies from both collide – with Ovtcharov trying to place the ball carefully and push Calderano away from the table for his wins, and Calderano looking for openings to overpower Ovtcharov. The score was tied at 2 and again at 3 and again at 4 and 5. Calderano finally built a 2-point lead (the first by either player in the match) at 8-6, just to see the next two points go to Ovtcharov. At 9-9, Ovtcharov played a backhand serve across the middle, Calderano returned it well to Ovtcharov’s backhand, and Ovtcharov ripped a backhand winner into Calderano’s body. And up a point, Ovtcharov hit a similar serve, was forced to play a soft return, and Calderano’s return tipped the top of his racket and flew off long. Match to Ovtcharov.
This is a WTT Champions Series event, so there are a lot of big names in action. Shidong, Jingkun, Chen Yuanyu, and Zhou Qihao each won so that is 4 of 5 Chinese players advancing to the Round of 16. Japanese players actually bested this feat as all four Japanese players who entered won their opening match. Harimoto defeated China’s Xiang Peng 3-0, Yukiya Uda topped Kallberg, Sora Matsushima defeated Qatar exemption Mohammed Abdulwahhab, and Togami defeated Assar. USA’s Kanak Jha fell to Truls Moregard, Duda ousted Jorgic, and the other winners thus far are Felix Lebrun, Lin Yun-Ju, Dang Qiu, and Jang Woojin.
There aren’t any big early upsets on the women’s side. The top Chinese players have moved forward – this left USA’s Lily Zhang behind as she drew World No. 4 Chen Xingtong as her first round match. Japan’s Mima Ito lost to teammate Miyu Nagasaki (No. 15 over No. 9) in a minor upset. Other players moving on are so far are Sofia Polcanova, Adriana Diaz, Zhu Yuling, Miwa Harimoto, Kim Nayeong, Joo Cheonhui, and Sabine Winter.
Lots of quality table tennis on tap all week long – we’ll have more updates soon.
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