Six players from the world’s Top 10 took part in this week’s WTT Champions Frankfurt, and all six were confused before the final day. The top seed remaining on Sunday was Dang Qiu, and he had little trouble against Lee Sang Su, who won their semi-final 4-1. Sora Matsushima had a great run to the semi-finals, but he also benefited from Dimitrij Ovtcharov upsetting Tomokazu Harimoto and Kanak Jha upsetting Darko Jorgic. Matsushima eliminated both Jha and Ovtcharov on his way to the semi-finals, and today he reached the final by beating Anders Lind 4-2.
In the final, Matsushima and Qiu played five exciting matches with only a few points difference. But time and time again it was Matsushima who closed the matches accurately and eventually won 4-1 (8, 13, -11, 16, 9). This is a statement win for 18-year-old Matsushima who adds 1,000 ranking points to his total, putting him firmly in the World Top 10 (he should be No. 8 or No. 9 when the next rankings are released). This is also a big problem for Japan, who haven’t had two players in the Top 10 since big names Koki Niwa and Jun Mizutani retired. In addition to Tomokazu Harimoto and the rise of Sora Matsushima, Japan also has Shunsuke Togami, Yukiya Uda and Hiroto Shinozuka all in the World Top 30.
Japan dominated the women’s event. Mima Ito and Hina Hayata faced each other in one semi-final (with Hayata winning). Miwa Harimoto defeated Shin Yubin of the Republic of Korea in the other semi-final 4-2. Ultimately, it was Hayata who took the lead early and then held on for the 4-3 victory.
The tour takes a week-long break with the next major event, a WTT Star Contender series event in Muscat, Oman, starting in 8 days.
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