(By Steve Hopkins, photo by WTT)
All three wins were by just 2 points, but 21 year old Ryoichi Yoshiyama’s quickness prevailed over Darko Jorgic as the top seed was eliminated. Yoshiyama actually had one of the toughest draws in the early rounds of the WTT Contender Series event in Almaty, as he fought past Xue Fei 3-2, then Gyuhyeon Park 3-2, before topping Jorgic. But after those three great showings, Yoshiyama fell short in his Semifinal match against Shunsuke Togami.
The other half of the draw was dominated by Chinese players with 20 year old Chen Junsong (World No. 227) and Zhou Qihao (World No. 40) each navigating to the Semifinals with ease. Qihao then won that Semifinal match 3-0 to reach the Final. Qihao and Togami will face off in the Men’s Singles Final on Sunday evening.
The surprise finalist in Women’s Singles is Qin Yuxuan, an 18-year old Chinese player. In the last few years she has won three WTT Youth Contender events and two numerous other team and doubles titles in youth and junior events. Yuxuan will face the second seeded Honoka Hashimoto in the Final on Sunday. Hashimoto has yet to be pushed to a fifth game, spreading 3 losses over her four matches so far, including a dominant 3-1 win over World No. 20 He Zhuojia.
The only event that has completed thus far was Mixed Doubles where Hugan Youzheng and Shi Xunyao defeated Xue Fei and Qian Tianyi. The Men’s Doubles Final will be between the Chinese squad of Yuan/Xu and the Japanese squad of Matsushima/Togami. And the Women’s Doubles Final will also be Japan versus China with Hashimoto and Sato taking on Shi and Qian.
Four Finals are on tap for Sunday. Visit ButterflyOnline.com for the latest in table tennis news and results.
