There have been two WTT tour events so far in 2026, but so far there has only been WTT champion: Zhu Yuling. Butterfly player Zhu Yuling won medals in singles and doubles at the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships in Paris. During her career in China, she was a key part of the Chinese national team, even reaching number 1 in the world in 2017. In 2019, she struggled with injuries and withdrew from the team during the pandemic. She officially left in 2021 after undergoing surgery.
After recovering from surgery, Zhu settled in Macau and spent several years as an associate professor at Tianjin University, where she also coached table tennis. After officially gaining residency in Macau in 2024, she was asked to represent a new country in table tennis – and started training again. At the age of 29, she returned to international competition and this month, at the age of 31, she is the only top woman to have won an event – and with today’s win she has moved 500 points over Kuai Man (the player immediately ahead of her in the world rankings at No. 4).
Zhu Yuling’s road to the final included a pair of 3-0 wins over Zhu Ziyu and Manika Batra, then a tight 3-2 win over Saki Shibata, a tight 3-2 win over Satsuki Odo and a strong final that ended with a 4-2 win over Hitomi Sato.
Sato also had a great tournament from world number 29. Sato upset Kuai Man in the round of 16, then upset Kim Nayeong in the quarterfinals and then Adriana Diaz in the semifinals. Despite losing in the semifinals, Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz also recorded a big win by beating China’s Chen Yi (world No. 7) in the quarterfinals.
The next tour stop is in Muscat, Oman – and the action starts on Monday. Shi Xunyao (world number 13) is the top seed with Cheng I-Ching, Linda Bergstrom, Anna Hursey and Manika Batra all set to play.
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