(by Steve Hopkins, photo ITTF’s Remy Gros)
There were several neat story lines to follow in Rio this week at the WTT Contender series event. The biggest early story was that Brazilian Hugo Calderano flamed out in the first round, losing to Korea’s Cho Seungmin. Another story was bad news for Germany, as despite holding three of the top six seeds (and the top seed out early), none of Germany’s players (Ovtcharov, Franziska, and Qiu) reached the Final four.
The headline is that Sweden’s Mattias Falck (who is back up to World No. 22) has won the event. Falck was Sweden’s top player for a time and had reached the Top 10 in 2019 before falling out of the Top 25 (and all the way to fourth in Sweden). Falck should be in the Top 15 in the next rankings – and if he jumps past Anton Kallberg, he will be Sweden’s second highest ranked player behind Truls Moregard.
Despite Falck’s comeback, the biggest story this week in Rio is 16 year old Sora Matsushima of Japan. Matsushima has been steadily rising in the rankings, but he arrived in Rio as the World 134th ranked player. He was the underdog in every match he played, and his run to the Final included wins over Ovtcharov and Freitas and Lee Sang Su. Japan has one superstar, Tomokazu Harimoto, and has been able to offer little support in team events. After this week, Matsushima may jump 60 or 80 ranking slots and could be in the Top 5 in Japan – giving him great opportunities to play internationally to build up the type of experience he needs. Japan finally has a number of young players in their pipeline rising through the rankings.
In the Semifinals, Matsushima outlasted Cho Seungmin for a tight 3-2 win. And in the other half of the draw, Falck dominated Jang Woojin 3-0. When the two faced off, the first four games were a nailbiter. Matsushima took the first 12-10, then Falck won the next two at 14-12 and 11-9 only to see Matsushima fight back for another 11-9 win. But with the two tied 2-2, it was the experience of Falck that paid off… safe points, building early leads, and then carefully nursing those leads. Falck won the final two games 11-6 and 11-7 to secure the 4-2 win and the title.
In Women’s Singles, top seeded Hina Hayata was the story. She won every match 3-0, including a Semifinal win over Bernadette Szocs, right up to the Final. In the Final against Sweden’s Linda Bergstrom, Hayata dropped the first game. However, that was the only game Hayata would lose in the whole tournament – running off 4 straight dominant wins for the 4-1 victory. Hina Hayata won 16 games, and only lost 1. Hayata dominated in Rio.
Next week’s WTT event (Feeder series) is in the Czech Republic, and the next in the Contender series will be in Kazakhstan in early September.
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