Fan Shuhan (Photo WTT)
Qualifier Fan Shuhan has been turning heads all week at WTT Star Contender Ljubljana table championships, but the 21-year-old finally met her match on Saturday evening, falling short in her quarterfinal showdown with Hina Hayata beating her 11-5, 11-4, 5-11, 11-6.
The World No.181 started the week in the qualifying rounds, chalking up six victories just to get to this point in the draw, including eye-catching wins over Kim Nayeong, Hitomi Sato and No.4 seed Kuai Man.
However, Japanese superstar Hayata proved too great a hurdle in Saturday’s quarterfinal, as the 2024 Ljubljana champion left nothing up to chance, limiting Fan to just a single game.
Hayata moves through to face teammate Miwa Harimoto in a repeat of their semifinal clash from the 2024 event in Ljubljana. Harimoto banked her semifinal ticket in style, putting three games past Adriana Diaz 11-8, 11-8, 11-7.
Two-time defending men’s singles champion, Hugo Calderano, firmly remains in the hunt for three in a row in Ljubljana, with the ‘Thrill from Brazil’ coming away with another noteworthy victory on Saturday evening.
Taken right down to the wire by Manush Shah earlier in the day, Calderano only needed four games to navigate his quarterfinal encounter with Xiang Pen, winning 12-10, 11-8, 4-11, 11-9, and now turns his attention to Simon Gauzy, who beat Hiroto Shinozuka 9-11, 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8.
While Shinozuka’s charge was halted, the 22-year-old’s day ended on a joyous note, as he combined forces with Shunsuke Togami to beat Wen Ruibo-Huang Youzheng to the men’s doubles title 11-4, 7-11, 11-3, 9-11, 11-5.
Meanwhile, the women’s doubles honours went to Miwa Harimoto and Hina Hayata, who outclassed Satsuki Odo and Sakura Yokoi 11-8, 11-5, 12-10 in the title clash .
