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(by Steve Hopkins)
The world’s best players converged on Singapore this week for the 2026 staging of the Singapore Smash. Action have now reached the quarter-finals, but not without losing some of the best players along the way.
World No. 2 Hugo Calderano and world No. 4 Tomokazu Harimoto both fell on Friday, and if you include Thursday’s loss to world No. 7 Sora Matsushima, that was a costly round of 16 for high seeds. China’s Chen Yuanyu has had one of the toughest draws to date. He needed all five matches to beat Darko Jorgic in the opening round, then defeated Milosz Redsimki 3-1 before defeating Hugo Calderano this morning. Calderano actually won the first game 11-6, the only one of the four games played to be decided by more than 2 points. From then on, however, it was three in a row, with Yuanyu winning 11-9, 12-10, 11-9 to advance. Yuanyu will next face Truls Moregard.
Moregard has had an easier path, with early 3-1 and 3-0 wins. He could then face an inexperienced Thibault Poret – who had scored a pair of upsets on Uda and Qiu just to reach the round of 16. Moregard took advantage of the moment and won 3-1.
Harimoto’s upset came at the hands of Patrick Franziska. This was the third match in a row that Franziska won 3-2. He had a surprisingly difficult time with Pang Koen from Singapore, a young left-hander who is only number 178 in the rankings. Franziska then came from 0-2 behind to upset Alexis Lebrun. And of course today’s 3-2 win over Harimoto sends Franziska to the quarter-finals. Franziska will face Lin Yun-Ju on Saturday. Yun-Ju is 9-0 over his three matches so far.
Lin Shidong and Felix Lebrun each advanced to the Quarters and will face each other on Saturday. Felix is yet to lose a match, with his most recent win ending the run of another promising young Frenchman, Flavien Coton. Shidong defeated Lim Jonghoon decisively, dropping one game 16-14 but easily winning the other 5, 4 and 3.
The last quarter-final is between Wang Chuqin, number 1 in the world, and Jang Woojin from Korea. Woojin upset Sora Matsushima on Thursday to continue. Chuqin took care of business against Anders Lind 3-1. Matsushima had previously defeated American Kanak Jha in the Round of 32 – a 3-1 victory over the American with two tight matches shared between them, and two dominant matches that showcased Matsushima’s strength.
The final number of the last eight remaining: three Chinese players, 1 Swede, 1 French, 1 German, 1 from Taipei and 1 from the Republic of Korea. The action continues on Saturday.
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