(By Steve Hopkins)
Despite the top four seeds falling early, two big names have reached the Final at the WTT Contender Tunis. Anton Kallberg dominated Mattias Falck 3-1 to reach the Final. Kallberg will face Patrick Franziska who topped Sun Wen 3-1. This sets up a very interesting Final in that these two have faced each other three times in 2023 already. Kallberg won 3-1 at the WTT Contender Durban in January, but most recently Franziska won both meetings in the ETTU Champions League matches 3-0 and 3-2. Will Sunday continue the streak for Franziska, giving him 3 in a row – or will it be Kallberg that evens their head-to-head matches 2-2 (by winning both of the tour matches)?
Two big names emerged in the Women’s event as well. Miwa Harimoto, Japan’s 15 year old phenom (and younger sister of Tomokazu Harimoto) fell behind top seed Miyu Nagasaki 0-2 before running off three wins in a row to advance. For Korea’s Shin Yubin, she plans to make it two in a row – having won the WTT Contender event in Lagos just a week ago. Yubin is only 18, and she is shooting up the World Rankings – currently No. 16, and after this week she should bounce up another spot or two.
Action continues on Sunday with the Singles and Doubles Finals.
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