(by Steve Hopkins)
World No. 4 won, the Semifinals included an American, and a Chinese team member lost in nearly every round (Xue in R32, Shindong in R16, Peng in the Quarters, and Chuqin in the Finals) – and those were just the surprises on the Men’s side of the WTT Champions Series event in Yokohama, Japan. And just to touch upon some of the Women’s Singles headlines – World No. 1 made the Final but didn’t win, World No. 2 lost in the second round, World No. 3 was the winner, and an American reached the final 16.
The top fourth of the draw accounted for most of the early headlines, as USA’s Kanak Jha beat Simon Gauzy and Kao Cheng-Jui, and Dang Qiu toppled World No. 1 Lin Shidong. The headliners met in the Quarters and Kanak Jha dominated Dang Qiu launching him further than any American has ever been in a WTT Championship Series event. Tomokazu Harimoto ended Jha’s run in the Semifinals with a strong 4-1 win, and then to keep the spotlight, it was Harimoto that won the tournament with a 4-2 win over World No. 2 Wang Chuqin.
On the Women’s side, Lily Zhang defeated Doo Hoi Kem in their Round of 32 matchup. Doo is No. 39 in the world and Zhang is No. 38, so this was not an upset – but the two had met 10 times before and the Korean had won all 10, so this was a solid personal victory for Lilly Zhang. Lily fell to World No. 9 Satsuki Odo in the Round of 16, but helped keep the USA in the news for a few extra days at this major tournament.
World No. 1 Sun Yingsha dominated the competition with 3-0, 3-1, 4-0, and 4-1 wins on her way to the Final. But it was World No. 3 who emerged from the bottom half of the draw to face off – and ultimately win the Final 4-2. The Chinese players each excelled and faltered in turn in the bottom quarter of the draw – with Wang Manyu defeating Adriana Diaz but then being upset by Chen Yi, and Chen Yi following that big upset win with a let-down loss to Wang Yidi, and Wang Yidi following her big win with a let-down loss to Chen Xingtong. Chen Xingtong broke the pattern by taking those final two matches – the Semifinals and Finals.
Attention now turns to Sweden for the Europe Smash that starts this weekend.
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