(by Steve Hopkins)
Ljubijana was the host of this week’s tour stop, as the WTT Star Contender series reached Slovenia. The top seeds this week were Felix Lebrun, Lin Shidong, and Hugo Calderano. Felix Lebrun reached the Round of 16, but fell to Hiroto Shinozuka 1-3. Lin Shidong fell a round earlier, also upset by a Japanese player, Yukia Uda. It was a different Japanese player, Shunsuke Togami that topped the headlines – defeating Yuan Licen, the Park Gyuhyeon, then Ovtcharov, and Dang Qiu on his way to the Final.
Calderano had a good run in the top half of the draw – with wins over Omar Assar, Manush Shah (who had defeated USA’s Kanak Jha), Xiang Peng, and Simon Gauzy. The final was seesaw battle with Calderano winning the first and fourth and sixth games, but falling just short. Shunsuke Togami won the seventh game and claimed the title with the upset win.
The top two seeds in the top half of the Women’s singles draw were both Japanese players – Hina Hayata and Miwa Harimoto. Both reached the Semis where Hayata topped Harimito 3-0. A similar script played out in the bottom half of the draw where Zhu Yuling was the second seed in the event, and the other top seed, Shin Yubin, also reached the Semis. Zhu Yuling won that Semifinal match-up 3-0, but her run stopped in the Final. Hayata and Yuling were about as tight as any two players could be with the first game going to Zhu Yuling 11-8 but every other game decided by only 2 points. Game two went 13-11 to Hayata, then Yuling won 11-9, then Hayata tied the match score again with an 11-9 win. The final three games were just as close: 12-10 Hayata, then 12-10 Yuling, then 11-9 to Hayata to win.
Men’s Doubles went to the Japanese team of Togami and Shinozuka over the Chinese team of Wen Ruibo and Huang Youzheng. Women’s Doubles went to Harmioto and Hayata over Odo and Yokoi. And Mixed Doubles was the only non-Japanese title – going to the Koreat team of Lim Jonghoon and Shin Yubin.
The next Tour Stop is the United States Smash which will begin on June 26 and finish on July 5. Top players will be in the US for the country’s big 250th celebration on July 4th and Los Angeles Stadium will be hosting two World Cup matches during this period as well – so there should be lots of excitement in the area over those days.
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