(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
Their hometown of Sendai City is about 200 miles away, but Yokohama sure felt like home on Sunday to the Harimotos as both Miwa Harimoto and Tomokazu Harimoto won their respective Finals today at the WTT Champions series event in Yokohama.
Miwa Harimoto entered the tournament as the top seed, and she never faltered. She opened with a tough 3-2 win over Honoka Hashimoto, followed that up with a come-back 3-2 win over China’s Chen Yi, and then dominated from that point forward with a 4-1 win over Shin Yubin the the Quarters, and a 4-2 win over Wang Yidi in the Semis. Chen Xingtong had a nice 4-1 win over Kuai Man in the Semifinal, and really rolled all the way to the Final (losing only 1 of 15 games on her path to the Final). In the Final, Harimoto started fast, winning the first two games. The two then traded wins in the final four games – giving Miwa Harimoto the title with a 4-2 victory.
Two Americans played in the Women’s event with Lily Zhang reaching the Round of 16 with a win over Natalia Bajor. Zhang then fell 1-3 to Satsuki Odo. Amy Wang dropped her opening match against Shin Yubin (with Yubin eventually losing to harimoto in the Quarters).
Sora Matsushima was the top seed in Men’s Singles and he had a nice run – reaching the Semifinals after wins over Qihao, Lind, and Woojin. But it was Tomokazu Harimoto that made the headlines this weekend as he defeated Alexis Lebrun 4-0 on Saturday, and then ousted top seed Matsushima 4-2 before winning the Final 4-1 over Oh Junsung. The bottom half of the draw had a pair of shake-ups in the Quarters as Oh Junsung upset Dang Qiu and Hiroto Shinozuka topped second-seeded Felix Lebrun. It was Junsung that emerged from that half of the draw to reach the Final (finishing as runner-up). Top honors went to Harimoto who dropped the first game in the Final, but then ran off four straight for the 4-1 win.
USA’s Kanak Jha had a solid result in the event. He defeated Tomislav Pucar 3-0 in the opening round – easily handling the World No. 34 player from Croatia. Jha then fell to Borussia Dusseldorf teammate Dang Qiu in the Round of 16.
The next tour stop is the Europe Smash in Malmo, Sweden. Qualification rounds are already underway and one early match in the main draw will feature top seeded Truls Moregard facing Dimitrij Ovtcharov,.The other top seeds are Sora Matsushima, Lin Shidong, and Hugo Calderano. USA’s Kanak Jha is set to face Fang Bo in the opening round. In Women’s Singles, USA’s Amy Wang will face Kim Nayeong on Monday, and Lily Zhang will face Manika Batra later this week.
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