(by Steve Hopkins)

World No. 1 Lin Shidong has pressed through to the Semifinals of the WTT Champions Series Event in Montpellier with relative ease.  Shidong will face the host country’s favorite, Felix Lebrun, who emerged through Alexis Lebrun in a Euro-heavy quarter of the draw that also included Truls Moregard and Darko Jorgic.

Tomokazu Harimoto entered the event as the fourth seed, and has maneuvered past a hot Patrick Franziska and a persistent Anton Kallberg on his way to the Semis.  Its Harimoto’s opponent, however, that has been the top story of the event thus far.  Benedikt Duda began the tournament with a major upset on Thursday, a 3-1 win over Lin Gaoyuan.  He then dominated Quadri Aruna 3-0 (another upset).  And in the Quarterfinals, Duda’s roll continued as he defeated World No. 4 Liang Jingkun 3-0.  That is, Duda has managed to take out half of the Chinese team entrants single-handedly. Both the Semifinals and Finals are scheduled for Sunday.

None of the top four seeds have reached the Semifinals in the Women’s Singles event.  Wang Yidi fell in the second round to Qian Tianyi.  Shin Yubin fell in the Quarters to Miwa Harimoto.  Miu Hirano lost to Satsuki Odo in the Round of 16.  And Chen Xingtong lost to Hana Goda in their Round of 16 matchup.  China’s Qian Tianyi will face Japan’s Miwa Harimoto in one Semifinal, and Japan’s Satsuki Odo will face Taipei’s Cheng I-Ching in the other Semifinal.

USA’s Lily Zhang fell to Manika Batra of India in the Round of 32.  Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz was one of Miwa Harimotos victims, losing in the Round of 16.

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