(by Steve Hopkins)

When the 2023 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals began in Durban, nearly every one of the top players in the World was ready to compete.  As we enter the final weekend, six of the World’s Top 8 players remain – and they are joined by two of the biggest surprises in recent history.

Among the top seeds are World No. 1 Fan Zhendong who cruised easily past Top 10 player Dang Qiu 4-0 in the Round of 16.  Wang Chuqin also won 4-0, but over Joao Geraldo who had reached the Round of 16 by upsetting Patrick Franziska.  Lin Gaoyuan and Ma Long will face each other tomorrow.  In his four matches thus far, Ma Long has only lost one game (so he is cumulatively 16-1 in games in his wins over Algo, Eugene Wang, Kristian Karlsson, and Lim Jonghoon).  Not to be outdone, Lin Gaoyuan is also 16-1, and his four wins include Dyas, Habesohn, Lee Sang Su, and Lin Yun-Ju.  The best results thus far belong to Tomokazu Harimoto who is a clean 16-0 through his four wins.  Harimoto will face Liang Jingkun in the Quarterfinals in their World No. 4 versus World No. 5 matchup.

The two surprises are Egypt’s Omar Assar and Denmark’s Anders Lind.  Of the 128 players invited to Durban, Omar Assar (who at the time was No. 34) had a slight seeding advantage through two rounds, and No. 180 Anders Lind was among the lowest seeds in the tournament.  For Assar, he narrowly advanced past Ecuador’s Alberto Mino 3-2,  and then topped Kazakhstan’s Gerassimenko 4-2.  Then in the Round of 32, Assar upset World No. 10 Truls Moregard 4-2.  And because Tomislav Pucar upset Ovtcharov, Omar faced Pucar in the next round.  The award for Assar for making this far is a Quarterfinal match against World No. 1 Fan Zhendong – and an opportunity to pull off the biggest upset of the tournament.  But even with a loss, expect to see Assar jump into the Top 25 (and maybe all the way to No. 19 or 20).

If Assar is a surprise, Lind is a surprise and a half.  Lind started the tournament with an upset of Joao Monteiro 4-2.  Then, because Brian Afanador knocked out World No. 6 Hugo Calderano, Lind was able to face the less experienced Afanador (a match he won 4-1).  Another upset, Alamiyan over Jonathan Groth, gave Anders an easier than expected Round of 32 win.  And then, Lind’s big upset was his Round of 16 win over  World No. 13 Jang Woojin.  Lind is now lined up to face Wang Chuqin in the Quarterfinals.  Like Assar, win or lose this is already a big step forward for Anders Lind.  Anders is the last European standing, and the points accumulated by advancing this far in this huge event may send him forward 80 or 100 spots in the World Rankings.

Some other notes of interest – Taipei, France, Japan, Germany, Korea, joined China with at least two players in the Top 32.  China is still dominating with 5 of the Final 16, but 10 other countries were represented in that Round (only Korea with Woojin and Jonghoon joined China with more than 1 player).

Almost exactly as scripted, the top 8 seeds have advanced to the Final 8 in Women’s Singles.  Japan’s top two players (Ito and Hayata) and Germany’s top player (Ying Han) will face off against the World’s Top 5 (all Chinese).  It will take an upset on Friday for it not to be an All-Chinese Semifinal and Final.

TeamUSA’s Amy Wang and Nikhil Kumar reached the Round of 16 in Mixed Doubles (Japan will face China in the Final on Friday).  Puerto Rico’s Daniel Gonzalez and Brian Afanador reached the Round of 16 in Men’s Doubles.

The finals are scheduled for Sunday.  Check in for frequent updates as the tournament progresses this weekend.

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