(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
In a complete script flip from last week’s upset-filled Singapore Smash, 7 of the top 8 seeds advanced to the Quarterfinals at the WTT Champions Series Event in Incheon, Korea. Newly crowned World No. 1 Wang Chuqin is out this week, but 8 of the World Top 10 are playing this week in Korea.
Fan Zhendong entered as the top seed and he has maneuvered past Matsushima and Franziska without dropping a game thus far. Next up for Fan is Tomokazu Harimoto who needed a five games to top Oh Jungsung in their tight Round of 16 match. Felix Lebrun topped Dimitrij Ovtcharov as Hugo Calderano defeated Alexis Lebrun – so Hugo Calderano will now face Lebrun brothers in two consecutive days when he faces Felix on Saturday.
In the bottom half of the draw, Lin Yun Ju and Ma Long have each advanced easily – facing off against each other tomorrow. And in the final match-up it will be Liang Jingkun versus Simon Gauzy. Jingkun entered as the second highest seed, but he has not yet had an easy match as he defeated Kallberg 3-2 and then fought past Darko Jorgic 3-1. Gauzy is the only unexpected player to advance this far by upset. Gauzy upset Dang Qiu in the opening round 3-1, and then upset Lee Sang Su 3-0. The next upset opportunity for Gauzy is Jingkun on Saturday.
The Women’s Singles event had six top seeds who have advanced. Sun Yingsha will face Hina Hayata, Wang Yidi will face Sofia Polcanova, Bernadette Szocs will face Chen Meng, and Jeon Jihee will face Wang Manyu. Jeon Jihee is one of the upset victors – having topped Mima Ito 3-2, and Sofia Polcanova logged her upset in the opening round with a win over Korea’s Shin Yubin 3-2.
Lots of quality table tennis on tap this weekend – we’ll have more updates soon.
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