Hugo Calderano (Photo WTT)
Hugo Calderano got his WTT Champions Macao campaign off to a flying start, beating Nicholas Lum 11-4, 11-9, 11-6 as the first day of a huge week of table tennis came to an end.
Brazil’s Calderano has fond memories of playing in Macao, after winning the ITTF Men’s and Women’s World Cup Macao 2025 and reaching the final of last year’s WTT Champions event in the city.
Despite those accolades, Calderano has never won a WTT Champions title, but wasted no time in trying to right that wrong, converting his second of seven Game Points to draw first blood.
Lum came fighting back in the second and was able to save one Game Point, but the World No.7 was unfazed and replied by going 8-1 up in the third before finishing the match in just 20 minutes.
Things were much more straightforward Tomokazu Harimoto, who brushed aside Mak Tin Ian 11-2, 11-2, 11-2. Macao, China’s other representative, Leong On Na, also bowed out of the event, as Anna Hursey won in straight games 11-1, 11-7, 11-6.
Flavien Coton has provided the first huge upset beating the No.4 seed Lin Yun-Ju in a thrilling five-game epic 5-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6.
Coton and Lin had only faced each other twice before meeting in Infinity ∞ Arena on Tuesday evening, with the Chinese Taipei star winning both encounters in 2025. The most recent of those two matches, a 3-2 win for Lin at WTT Champions Montpellier 2025, was a forebearer that this match was also going to be a gripping affair.
The thrills were present from the off in this one, with Coton and Lin trading blows in Game One and engaging in rallies where both players stepped away from the table and unleashed forehand shots at each other. While Lin kept Coton at arm’s length in the first, signs that the French youngster could trouble his Chinese Taipei counterpart were there, and they became more evident in the second.
Trailing 6-9, Coton kept his cool and came from behind to steal the game. Coton took Game Point with some amazing play after Lin returned his forehand counter with a shot straight to the body of the 18-year-old, but the WTT Contender Tunis 2026 champion got his racket across in a flash to return with a backhand. Lin then smashed one back, but Coton was equal to it, hitting another forehand that the WTT Champions Doha 2026 winner was powerless to resist.
Lin had to find solutions, and it looked like he had cracked the code when he scored six from a possible eight to go ahead in the third game, but Coton kept fighting, saving three Game Points before the World No.6 regained the lead.
Coton was on his last life and was clearly frustrated when he gifted Lin a 2-0 lead, kicking the ball away in anger. Things went from bad to worse when he failed to score a single point on his own serve.
With a four-point cushion and just one game away from the Round of 16, it looked like Lin would take this one comfortably, but Coton erased those earlier mistakes and smashed eight in a row to suddenly find himself in front, and soon enough level the match again.
The points just kept coming for Coton in the final game, as 4-0 became 8-1 and his first WTT Champions win was confirmed.
In the Men’s Singles event, Wong Chun Ting produced a stunning performance to book his spot in the Round of 16 at a WTT Champions event for the first time in three years, downing Yukiya Uda 7-11, 11-7, 10-12, 12-10, 11-6.
Wong was staring down the barrel of defeat in the fourth when, despite leading for most of the game, he found himself 6-9 down. But the Hong Kong, China player got a lucky break when his shot clipped the net, and the bounce fell in his favour. From there, the penholder Wong, who was just two points away from defeat moments ago, converted Game Point on the second attempt.
As Wong stepped back onto the court for the decider, his coach’s words were simple: “Believe in yourself.” And the 35-year-old, who celebrated his birthday yesterday, was full of confidence in the fifth, storming to a 4-1 lead and then setting up five Match Points before getting the job done.
In the first women’s singles fixture of the evening session at the Macao East Asian Games Dome, No.1 seed Miwa Harimoto got her quest to become the second person to win three WTT Champions events in a row, after Sun Yingsha did it in 2024, beating Zeng Jian 11-8, 12-10, 11-3.
While Harimoto was able to wrap this match up in straight games, Zeng put in a commendable performance in the early stages. The former Top 20 player opted to attack Harimoto from the off, pushing her close in the opener, and had the chance to draw level in the second but dropped Game Point.
But the World No.3 showed why she has won two WTT Champions titles this year, weathering the storm and racing toward the finish line in Game Three, converting her second of eight Match Points.
Satsuki Odo narrowly avoided another defeat to Elizabeta Samara, as the Japanese No.7 seed came back from two games down to fight another day, winning 10-12, 3-11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-3.
At WTT Champions Frankfurt 2025, Samara beat Odo 3-2 in the Round of 16, earning her a spot in the quarterfinals for the first time at this level. In that match, Samara had to come from behind twice and saved three Match Points before stunning the table tennis world by blowing Odo away in the decider, going 8-1 up before winning the match.
But the matchup in Macao was a totally different affair, as Samara edged a tight first game before putting her foot on the gas in the second, going up 0-5 then 2-10.
However, the WTT Champions Montpellier 2024 winner Odo had to throw everything at Samara in the third to avoid an early exit, and a dominant performance got her back in the match and into her flow state, and from there she cruised through the last two games.
Earlier in the day, Elizabet Abraamian made her WTT Champions debut a match to remember, going to war in a five-game battle with Australia’s Yangzi Liu and twice coming from behind to secure the win in 9-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8.
WTT Contender Tunis 2026 champion Abraamian showed great fighting spirit throughout this match, hitting six winners in a row to overturn a 3-6 deficit to level it in Game Two. She then forced a decider with an emphatic showing in Game Four, storming to a 6-1 lead before holding off a late resurgence from Liu.
Heading into Game Five, all signs pointed to a win for Abraamian, who boasted a stunning 81% win record in deciding games, and she demonstrated that calmness under pressure once more, leading from start to finish to take the victory.
