Anton Kalbberg reaches the semifinals. (Photo WTT)
Hugo Calderano has made it to the last day of action at WTT Champions Macao, beating one of the sport’s rising stars, Sora Matsushima 11-9, 10-12, 11-5, 14-12, 3-11, 11-9, in the first meeting between these high-profile athletes.
Nothing could split these two over the first two games, as they stayed neck-and-neck right to the death in the first, and Matsushima saved game point to level things up in the second. But everything soon changed, as Calderano brought raw power to dominate the third.
Matsushima looked deflated as the Thrill from Brazil went up 2- 1, but wasn’t going to roll over and came out swinging. Calderano, however, didn’t get sucked in and used every trick in the book to slow the game down, refusing to play at his Japanese counterpart’s speed.
While they were still level after 12 points, Matsushima was getting frustrated, stomping on the ground, bashing his racket on the table and dropping it to the floor when he conceded. The 19-year-old’s anger went up a notch when he came out on the wrong end of the fourth game, where he saved three Game Points but squandered two of his own.
Matsushima still refused to give up and, out of nowhere, blew Calderano out of the water, winning game five in just a couple of minutes, but he would have to do it again if he was going to remain in this one.
In game six, Matsushima just couldn’t close the gap, and it seemed like every time he got to within a point, last year’s finalist Calderano would apply a little more pressure and extend his lead. On the other side of the table, WTT Champions Frankfurt 2025 winner Matsushima was infuriated, and after picking up a yellow card was close to risking a red, but Calderano ended it before it came to that.
Anton Kallberg pulled off a stunning comeback in a match against Alexis Lebrun that had several contenders for the point of the event, as the Swede fought back from 3-1 down to progress to the semifinals winning 11-6, 3-11, 5-11, 8-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-5.
Kallberg, who was in his first quarterfinal at this level since beating Lebrun in the Round of 16 in Frankfurt in 2025, took the first game but then got schooled by the Frenchman, who hit 22 points from a possible 30 to blitz the second and then go 2-1 up in the match.
Lebrun was in dreamland and started Game Four by returning six stunning shots where he was practically standing among the fans, one of which he pulled out a 360 spin to get the ball back. That shot started another blitz of points where the WTT Contender Zagreb 2024 champion went up 7- 1 in the fourth, and soon after was one game away from the semifinals.
But a dramatic twist was about to come, as Kallberg threw everything at Lebrun, stunning the 23-year-old 11-5 before he saved two match points to set up a nail-biting decider.
Kallberg, usually calm and collected throughout all of his matches, couldn’t resist letting out a huge cheer when he went up 6- 3 after an absolutely stunning rally that lifted the roof off Infinity ∞ Arena.
In that exchange, No.6 seed Lebrun again returned a series of impossible shots, dashing from the table to the coach’s bench and back again before Kallberg eventually scored. That rally drained Lebrun, and he could only manage two more points as Kallberg completed the comeback.
Truls Moregard defeated Darko Jorgic in a gripping quarter-final contest at the end of Saturday’s opening session with a 15-17, 11-3, 11-6, 10-12, 11-3, 12-10 win.
With the scores tied at 10-10, Moregard was forced to change rackets after accidentally smashing his on the table and had to adapt quickly, facing down six Game Points before Jorgic took the opener.
The last time the two Europeans met was at WTT Champions Montpellier 2024, where Moregard fought back from a 0-1 deficit to see off Jorgic in four games, and he’d have to come from behind again.
The WTT Champions and WTT Grand Smash winner Moregard was playing textbook table tennis in the second, restricting the rallies to three shots as he moved Jorgic around the table and levelled the match.
Moregard took game three and was producing magic in the fourth, hitting a 70% serve success rate and going up 9-8 after returning a chop block off the net. But Darko stayed with him all the way and produced a late twist, saving game point before stealing his own.
Fighting in his fifth WTT Champions quarterfinal, Darko was blown away in game five, as Moregard decided enough was enough, again handing the Slovenian another 11-3 demolition.
One game away from facing Tomokazu Harimoto in the semifinal, Moregard had to withstand heavy pressure from the WTT Contender Skopje 2026 champion, as the two remained all square after 12 points. Moregard found some breathing room by taking the next two points, and Jorgic headed to his corner for a time out, but there was no stopping the Swede, who converted on his third match point.
Earlier, Harimoto eliminated Zhou Qihao, the last Chinese player left in the men’s singles draw 11-5, 11-4, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8.
However, Chen Yi gave Chinese fans inside Macao East Asian Games Dome a reason to celebrate, putting in a comprehensive performance against Ying Han, taking down the chopper 11-8, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 in the women’s singles.
Two Japanese heavyweights collided in the first quarterfinal match of the day, with Hina Hayata dominating Satsuki Odo 11-8, 11-8, 17-15, 11-13, 11-8.
Despite being national teammates, this was only the second time they have faced off against each other on the WTT Series, where Hayata won 3-1 at WTT Contender Zagreb 2024.
Odo took the first three points of the opening game, but Hayata drew first blood, going up 9-5 before converting two match points. Much of the same followed in Game Two, and while Odo made a strong start in the third, leading 6-4, it became evident that the WTT Champions Montpellier 2024 winner was having a bad day at the office when she failed to convert two Game Points, going down 3-0.
While Odo clawed one back, Hayata wrapped this tie up in 50 minutes to advance to the semifinals for the first time since she won WTT Champions Frankfurt 2025.
Dina Meshref’s dream run came to an end as she succumbed to Chen Xingtong, losing 11-6, 15-13, 11-4, 11-8.
World No.3 Miwa Harimoto took one step closer to pulling off a historic ‘three-peat’ at WTT Champions level, as the 18-year-old beat Bernadette Szocs 11-8, 11-4, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5.
