(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
Kanak Jha had one of the best matches of his career today as defeated World No. 7 Truls Moregard to reach the Round of 16 at the Singapore Smash. Moregard had a strong start in the match, with an 11-6 win in the opening game. The two then played three exciting games in a row with tight scores from start to finish – and Kanak won two of the three. In the fifth and final game, Jha jumped out to a big lead and could not be stopped – running away with the 11-2 victory.
Jha had already had a solid tournament, being invited to play in the Singapore Smash as a wildcard and pulling off a relatively easy 3-0 win over Brazil’s Vitor Ishiy. Ishiy is No. 46 in the world, which is about 10 slots ahead of Jha, but that’s a discussion of where Jha’s Ranking “was” – that’s in the past now. In a large event like this one, every win matters – and with this win, Jha secures no less than $9,500 USD and 175 Ranking Points. And to put those points in perspective, those points should move Kanak up to No. 39 or 40. That’s another big step, for USA’s biggest star.
Kanak Jha will be one of the headlines in a day already marked by upsets. So far today, we have seen No. 7 Moregard fall to Jha, No. 5 Felix Lebrun lose to Kao Cheng-Jui, and No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto fall to Xue Fei.
Lots of action on tap this week with Finals scheduled for next weekend.
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