(By Steve Hopkins, photo by WTT)
All three victories were only 2 points, but the 21 -year -old Ryoichi Yoshiyama’s speed prevailed over Darko Jorgic while the top seeds were eliminated. Yoshiyama actually had one of the most difficult treks in the early rounds of the WTT Contender Series event in Almaty, while he was 3-2 against Xue Fei, then Gyuhyeon Park 3-2 before he toped Jorgic. But after those three great impressions, Yoshiyama fell short in his semi -final match against Shunsuke Togami.
The other half of the draw was dominated by Chinese players with the 20 -year -old Chen Junsong (World No. 227) and Zhou Qihao (World No. 40) each with ease to the semi -final. Qihao then won that semi-final 3-0 to reach the final. Qihao and Togami will be confronted on Sunday evening in the men’s Singles final.
The surprise finalist in Ladies Singles is Qin Yuxuan, an 18-year-old Chinese player. In recent years she has won three WTT youth candidates events and two countless other teams and double titles in youth and junior events. Yuxuan will come across the second placed Honoka Hashimoto in the final on Sunday. Hashimoto still has to be pushed to a fifth game, which means that 3 losses are spread over her four games so far, including a dominant 3-1 victory over world no. 20 he zhuojia.
The only event that has been completed so far was mixed Doubles where Hugan Youzheng and Shi Xunyao Xue Fei and Qian Tianyi beat. The Heren Dubbel final will take place between the Chinese team of Yuan/XU and the Japanese team of Matsushima/Togami. And the final of the women’s doubles will also be Japan versus China, with Hashimoto and Sato taking on Shi and Qian.
Four finals are on tap for Sunday. Visit Butterflyonline.com for the latter in Table Tennis News and results.
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