The first WTT Champions Series event of 2026 is underway in Doha with the first round matches concluding today. The biggest disappointment so far is Dimitrij Ovtcharov (world number 29) overthrowing world number 3 Hugo Calderano 3-2. Ovtcharov was brought on early and played carefully to open with precise placement and control, allowing him to take an early lead and then maintain it for an 11-8 win. The second game started with both players shooting stronger and Calderano won quite easily, hitting sharply and hitting winner after winner. Ovtcharov again opened the third game very carefully: slow openings to points and then carefully placing throws, mostly to Calderano’s backhand. After the scrips of the first game, Ovtcharov opened an early lead and then maintained it until the 11-5 victory. A mix of strong short openings and powerful winners gave Calderano an early lead in the fourth game, but Ovtcharov fought back to 8-8 before Calderano upped the pace, hitting three winners from the last four rallies. We were tied for a total of two games and we saw the winning strategies of both clash – with Ovtcharov trying to carefully place the ball and push Calderano away from the table for his victories, and Calderano looking for openings to overpower Ovtcharov. The score was tied at 2 and again at 3 and again at 4 and 5. Calderano eventually built a 2-point lead (the first by either player in the match) at 8–6, only to see the next two points go to Ovtcharov. At 9-9, Ovtcharov played a backhand serve up the middle, Calderano returned it well to Ovtcharov’s backhand and Ovtcharov ripped a backhand winner into Calderano’s body. And at one point Ovtcharov hit a similar serve, was forced to play a soft return, and Calderano’s return tilted the top of his racket and flew long. Match with Ovtcharov.
This is a WTT Champions Series event, so there are a lot of big names in action. Shidong, Jingkun, Chen Yuanyu and Zhou Qihao each won, so that’s 4 out of 5 Chinese players to advance to the Round of 16. Japanese players even surpassed this feat, as all four Japanese players who competed won their opening match. Harimoto defeated China’s Xiang Peng 3-0, Yukiya Uda defeated Kallberg, Sora Matsushima defeated Qatar exempt Mohammed Abdulwahhab and Togami defeated Assar. American Kanak Jha fell to Truls Moregard, Duda ousted Jorgic and the other winners so far are Felix Lebrun, Lin Yun-Ju, Dang Qiu and Jang Woojin.
There are no major early setbacks on the women’s side. China’s top players have improved – leaving American Lily Zhang behind as she drew world number 4 Chen Xingtong as her first-round match. Japan’s Mima Ito lost to teammate Miyu Nagasaki (No. 15 over No. 9) due to a minor setback. Other players who have moved on so far include Sofia Polcanova, Adriana Diaz, Zhu Yuling, Miwa Harimoto, Kim Nayeong, Joo Cheonhui and Sabine Winter.
Lots of quality table tennis on tap all week – we’ll have more updates soon.
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