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(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
The world’s top players converged on Singapore this week, and a pair of Top Seeds left with the singles titles. Even in the doubles events it was a good week for the highest profile athletes.
Wang Chuqin arrived in Singapore as the likely favourite, and he did not disappoint. Six wins against many of the best in the sport and losing only two matches. A 3-0 win over Luu, a 3-0 win over Togami, a 3-1 win over Lind, a 4-0 win over Woojin, a 4-1 win over Felix and a 4-0 Finals win over Lin Yun-Ju.
Most of the interesting storylines in the men’s event came from setbacks – as seeing world number 8 Lin Yun-Ju reach the final meant many other top players fell prematurely. World No. 2 Hugo Calderano lost in the round of 32 to Won Chun Ting, World No. 3 Lin Shidong fell in the quarterfinals to Felix Lebrun, World No. 4 Tomokazu Harimoto lost to Patrick Franziska in the round of 16, and World No. 5 Truls Moregard made it into the Top 4 before falling to Lin Yun-Ju in the semifinals.
Obviously, world number 1 is even safer today than before the event, but the points distribution will be interesting for the next few places in the world rankings. If he finishes second, Lin Yun-Ju will get 1400 points, which could move the world number 8 up one or two places (probably only to number 7). Felix and Truls each reach 900 points as semi-finalists. For Felix Lebrun, that brings him closer to the top five, but probably doesn’t change his position (he remains at number six). However, Truls Moregard should rise to 6740, potentially vaulting him over three other players all the way to world number 2.
Sabine Winter was the biggest story in the Women’s Draw, winning back-to-back matches against Zhu Yuling (world no. 4) and Wang Yidi (world no. 7). Winter’s run ended today in the semi-finals when Wang Manyu won 4-1. The other semi-final also ended predictably, with Sun Yingsha (World No. 1) dominating Chen Yi (World No. 8) 4-1. Sun Yingsha went on to win the Final 4-2, winning the first two games and then sharing the last four.
The men’s doubles did not go to the top seed, but probably to the most famous pair. The top-seeded Korean team of Lim and An fell in their opening match (in the round of 16 after receiving a first-round bye). That helped clear the way for the Lebrun brothers to get out of that half of the draw. The bottom half of the draw featured a new Chinese duo of Lin Shidong and Huang Youzheng, who battled through to the finals. And when those teams faced each other, it was all Lebruns who won three in a row. Miwa Harimoto and Hina Hayata had a strong performance on their way to the women’s title, including a victory over China’s Kuai Man and Chen Yi and a victory in the final over Miyu Nagasaki of Japan and her partner Shin Yubin of Taipei. And the mixed doubles title went to Brazilian power couple Hugo Calderano and Bruna Takahash with a 3-0 victory over Lim Jonghoon and Shin Yubin of the Republic of Korea.
The Tour’s next stop is the WTT Champions Series event in Chongqing, China. The entire Top 10 in the world will be in action in ten days’ time at another exciting event.
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