(by Steve Hopkins)
The saying “Fortune Favors the Bold” has been proven true in the Quarterfinals of the United States Smash, the WTT Smash Series tour event being held at the Ontario Convention Center in Los Angeles. Friday’s matches largely went to free-swingers, with aggressive players betting on lower percentage shots and those bets paying off.
Anders Lind dominated his match with Wang Chuqin with a combination of careful touch shots followed by massive, flat shots that were often unreturnable – even by the best in the world. Lind’s 3-1 win sent him to the Quarters where he will face Sora Matsushima who electrified the fans with power from both side in his win over Dan Qiu. Both Qiu and Matsushima chose to play aggressively, but as points were extended, Qiu often relied on softening his shots with blocks while Matsushima seemingly came with only one gear – maximum speed and power. In the end, the prolonged assault of Matsushima won out – launching him into the Quarters to face Lind.
The second Quarters pairing will be Felix Lebrun and brother Alexis Lebrun. Both were the aggressor in their Quarters matchups. Felix overpowered Joao Geraldo, who had a great tournament that included an upset win over Darko Jorgic – but Geraldo’s luck ran out as he fell 0-3. Alexis was not the beneficiary of an upset – in fact, his was one of the toughest paths to the Quarters requiring wins over Anton Kallberg, Simon Gauzy, and then Lin Shidong. And while both Shidong and Alexis showcased power and aggression, it was Alexis who proved to be relentless in his aggressive pressing, and his emotion that kept him fighting through tight games to win all three.
The third pairing will be Truls Moregard who defeated USA’s Kanak Jha 3-1, and Jang Woojin who defeated Yukiya Uda 3-1. Both players had a little advantage in that a higher seed was upset, giving them a lower rated opponent. For Moregard, his was the beneficiary of Kanak Jha’s upset win over Togami. And Woojin benefitted from Lin Yun-Ju falling in the first round. Still – both players faced a motivated opponent on a roll – and each handled business as they will face each other in the Quarters Saturday.
Hiroto Shinozuka defeated Hugo Calderano in a big upset on Friday. Calderano won the opening game, and then faded as Shinozuka peaked. The 3-1 win for Shinozuka catapults him to the Quarters in one of the toughest sections of the draw – one that included Calderano and Yuanyu, and Wen Ruibo – but where the young Japanese player excelled. The most aggressive play of Friday was by Vladimir Siddorenko who was superb in his match against Tomokazu Harimoto. Sidorenko is known to be a streaky player at times – but the “streak” on Friday was start to finish. In fact, Siddorenko may have had the best tournament showing so far, winning 3-0 in all three of his matches.
The Quarters will be played Saturday, and the Semis and Finals are scheduled for Sunday.
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