Kuai Man battled back from a game down to knock out top ranked Sun Yingsha in the women’s singles quarter-finals at the WTT Champions Chongqing.
Kuai Man, who only made her WTT Champions debut last season, prevailed 6-11, 11-7, 16-14, 11-7, 9-11, 11-2.
She has already recorded two semifinal finishes at this level but showed scant fear of an opponent, who was on the hunt for her eighth Champions title.
In their second career meeting, Yingsha took the first game with ease. But Kuai Man, who last beat the World No.1 when she withdrew mid-match at WTT Finals Hong Kong last year, answered back immediately, becoming the first woman to win a game against the 25-year-old at this event.
Yingsha’s hopes of claiming her third WTT Champions Chongqing title took a huge blow when Kuai Man, after missing one game point and saving four, took the third game. Yingsha, for the first time since facing Kuai Man in December, had gone behind in a WTT match.
The World No.5 could smell blood and built a comfortable 8-4 lead in the fourth, and from there kept her compatriot at arm’s length. As Kuai Man ticked towards another victory, Yingsha was uncharacteristically frustrated, swatting at balls with venom and inadvertently missing the table. As Kuai Man had the chance to serve for the game, she used a tactical time-out, and spent it taping her leg. Whatever the issue was, it didn’t stop her from doubling her lead and moving to within one game of the semifinals.
“In my matches against Shasha, I always adopt a challenger’s mindset. I managed my mentality well throughout the match. After losing the first game, I didn’t tense up too much. Instead, I fought for each point and took it one point at a time. So I think this is the aspect where I performed well. Competing against an exceptional player like Shasha, excelling in just one aspect isn’t enough to win the match. To have a chance at victory, I needed to be flawless in every area of my play,” said Kuai Man.
It doesn’t matter what the score is; you can never count the 18-time WTT Series champion out. Yingsha tucked in her shirt, and if she had longer sleeves, would have rolled them. 6-1 up, she meant business now and started exposing Kuai Man, who was feeling the heat, fanning herself with her racquet between plays. Kuai Man was not able to cool herself down enough, and Yingsha moved back within one game.
But what came next was totally unexpected. Kuai Man had been good, but going 10-1 up in the sixth game was sublime, and the 22-year-old recorded her first-ever victory over a fully fit Yingsha and knocked out the defending champion.
Meanwhile Satsuki Odo’s phenomenal run continued to gather momentum, as the World No.13 survived a nervy end to the match, and overcame injury, to record her second win over a Top 10 player this week, beating Chen Yi 11-6, 12-14, 11-6, 11-7, 5-11, 7-11, 12-10 to progress to the semifinals.
Odo ended the opening game in style, firing off eight points to get the win. She then looked set to double her lead, but Chen Yi saved four Game Points before bringing the tie to 1-1.
The 21-year-old quickly put that loss behind her and dominated the third, in what was a difficult game for Chen Yi, who was given a yellow card for time wasting when trailing and was again behind in the match, and things only got worse.
Odo employed the tactic she used when she beat World No.2 Wang Manyu in the Round of 32, and instead of defending her lead, went on the attack and was 3-1 up.
Odo was flying high, but a worrying moment hit Infinity ∞ Arena when she hurt her shoulder returning the ball, immediately calling for a medical time-out. Chen Yi capitalised and won two games to force a seventh.
At 9-9 in the final game, this could have gone either way, and tension was high, and it ramped up further when Chen Yi got match point, but Odo saved. Serving for a place in the semifinals, Odo sent the arena into silence as she dumped out another seeded player in Chongqing.
In another women’s singles quarterfinal Miwa Harimoto took down Wildcard Shi Xunyao 11-5, 9-11, 11-1, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9.
In the men’s singles quarter-finals, superstars Hugo Calderano and Felix Lebrun locked horns. It was the man from France who prevailed, saving three of Calderano’s match points before coming out on top over seven games 10-12, 11-9, 10-12, 10-12, 11-8, 13-11, 13-11.
Both players were fired up for this one, and after Calderano took the first one by the finest of margins, saving one game point and being denied one himself, he let out a huge cheer when he stole it. Two more exceptionally tight games followed, with both Lebrun and Calderano taking one each.
Even though there was barely anything to separate these two, they really brought the entertainment. This match was filled with relentless rallies, as both found their safe zones by smacking the ball at each other from way behind the table.
Calderano won a vital fourth game, coming back from 7-10 down. But Lebrun then won the most one-sided contest, but it was still only a three-point advantage that saw him home as the match went to six games.
In all six of their previous WTT encounters, these two had never gone the distance, but Lebrun ensured this one would by saving two match points. He then won it in the most dramatic fashion, coming back from 7-9 down and saving another match point before claiming victory.
Earlier, Tomokazu Harimoto beat Lin Yun-Ju 11-8, 5-11, 11-9, 2-11, 11-7, 11-6, and Sora Matsushima beat Wang Chuqin.
Three months on from a devastating 4-3 loss to Chuqin at WTT Finals Hong Kong 2025, Matsushima got his revenge, slaying the defending champion 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9.
Straight off the bat, these two promised another spectacle by starting the match with long, fast rallies, and nothing could separate them at 5-5. It was the World No.1 Chuqin who asserted himself first with three Game Points, and the sell-out crowd erupted as he took it 8-11.
Taking the first game against someone of Chuqin’s calibre is vital if you want to stop him getting into his groove, and Matsushima knew it, letting out a groan of frustration as he went 0-3 down in the second. But now was not the time for the World No.8 to count himself out, and he climbed out of his own grave at 1-5 down to lead at 7-6, and then tie the match up.
There are levels to this sport, and these two brought two contrasting styles. Matsushima wanted to draw Wang into all-or-nothing, blood-and-thunder rallies, while his counterpart opted for the short game, creating angles to set up point-winning smashes. They were level after 12 and then again after 18. Despite the best efforts of the Chongqing crowd, they could not rally Chuqin over the line, and Matsushima was 2-1 up.
Even Matsuhima’s coach could be heard cheering as his charge was now on fire and once again in front against the best in the world. Chuqin refused to go away, and his first show of emotion, a raised fist to the crowd, appeared at 5-7. But once again, the man from Japan stunned all watching: five points in a row put him one game away from the semifinal.
With Matsushima 3-1 up overall, we found ourselves in the same situation we had seen in December in Hong Kong. Could the 15-time WTT Series singles title winner do it again? That task became harder when Matsushima was 7-1 up, but it was not insurmountable, and Chuqin started to chalk off the points, and as he did, the decibels started to rise. You would have been forgiven for thinking Chuqin had just won the title when the roar that exploded from the crowd when he won 7-11 almost lifted the roof off Bloomage Biotech Biohyalux ECM Arena.
But Chuqin wasn’t there yet; he still had to win two more games, but he was absolutely flying now, and went 4-1 up in the sixth. Matsushima looked broken, but again he picked himself up, and it was even after eight. Neck and neck again, Matsushima rolled the dice; he’d survived the storm, and he was attacking Chuqin’s serve and went ahead for the first time in the game at 8-7.
