(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
The WTT Champions series ended with a surprise winner in Montpellier today as Jang Woojin claimed his first ever WTT Champions title.
Top seeded Sora Matsushima, second seeded Felix Lebrun, and third seeded Tomokazu Harimoto all fell early leaving Truls Moregard (World No. 4) and Hugo Calderano (World No. 7) as the favorites as Semifinal action started on Sunday. As if that was not “surprise” enough, both Semifinals ended with upsets.
In the early match, Calderano and Woojin traded leads (a 1-0 early lead for Woojin, a 1-2 comeback lead for Calderano, a 3-2 shift of momentum back to Woojin, and then tied). In fact, starting at 8-8 in the deciding seventh game it was an additional seesaw set of momentum shifts. A pair of Woojin forehand winners to Calderano’s backhand gave him a 10-8 lead. A deep, spinny Calderano roll handcuffied Woojin’s backhand creating a miss and then a tricky down the line backhand by Calderano tied the score 10-10. Calderano tried the tricky backhand again – but Woojin dug it out from deep and Calderano missed into the net (11-10). Calderano took the serve early and hit the left corner and then short-hopped the return and hit the backhand (right) corner for an impossible combination to tie the score at 11. Calderano won the next point with a long, spinny serve that created a miss (11-12). Woojin hit three smashes against a defending Calderano to even the score (with the help of the net) at 12-12. The final two points were an inside-out forehand attack to Calderano’s backhand, and then a Calderano attack that tipped the net and fell long. Woojin wins 4-3, with a seventh game 14-12 marathon.
The other Semifinal had nearly as many fireworks. Franziska started strong with an 11-5 win, but Moregard answered with a 9-11 game of his own. Then Franziska struck again with a 12-10 win, just to see that lead evaporate with Moregard dominating the fourth game 6-11. The next two games saw 10-10 ties before the first went to Franziska 12-10 and the next went to Moregard 10-12. And this set up a big seventh game just like the other Semifinal – except every ball bounced Franziska’s way – with Moregard falling behind 5-1 and never catching up. There was one point where momentum had shifted and Moregard scored three in a row to get to 5-4, but a crosscourt Franziska forehand winner ended that run. And then a massive backhand was likely the final blow – as the score went quickly from 7-4 to 9-5 and then 11-6 for the win.
With both players exhausted from seven game Semifinals, Jang Woojin and Patrick Franziska headed into uncharted territory – as neither had ever won a WTT Champions series event. Early on, it looked like Franziska was the stronger player – winning three of the first four games. But Woojin would not be denied – building a small lead and nursing it to an 11-9 win in the fifth game. Winning five in a row to come from behind to build a 2 point lead late in the sixth game – eventually winning 11-8. And then in the deciding seventh game, trading big shots at 1-1, then 2-2, then 3-3, then 4-4, then finally a 2 point lead for Woojin at 6-4. The two were then tied again at 8-8 before a backhand winner, a forehand winner down the line, and a forehand winner into Franziska’s middle ended the match 11-8.
Unlike the Men where top seeds fell early and part of the surprise was Team China and Team Japan being eliminated before the Semifinals, the Women’s Singles event was more predictable. In fact, aside from World No. 1 Wang Manyu falling to 22 year old teammate Chen Yi, things went pretty much as expected. The final 8 players were Chen Yi against Hitomi Sato (China v. Japan), Miwa Harimoto against Kuai Man (Japan v. China), Chen Xingtong against Wang Yidi (China v. China), and Hina Hayata against Sun Yingsha (Japan v. China). China won all four of those Quarterfinals, and then the top remaining seeds prevailed on Sunday with Kuai Man winning 4-2 over Chen Yi, Sun Yingsha topping Wang Yidi 4-3, and then World No. 2 Sun Yingsha winning the final 4-1.
The next tour stop is a WTT Champions series event in Frankfurt, Germany that starts on Tuesday. All four of this week’s Semifinalists will be in action in Frankfurt as well as Sora Matsushima, Tomokazu Harimoto, and Wang Chuqin in an event that will see 27 of the World’s Top 30 players in action.
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