Yuto Kizukuri (Photo WTT)
Yuto Kizukuri has ended his long wait to earn champion status on the world stage at WTT Feeder Havirov 2026, defeating No.13 seed Deni Kozul 13-11, 11-8, 13-11 to lay claim to his first international singles title.
Kizukuri, who started the week in the qualifying rounds, came to within a whisker of missing out on the main draw, with the Japanese player requiring all five games to deny Samuel Palusek in the final qualifying round.
He’d again be taken the full distance two rounds later, holding off a comeback charge from Payas Jain to win11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 6-11, 11-7, and from that point on, Kizukuri found another gear.
Entering his element, Kizukuri brushed aside opposition from Marek Badowski, Romain Brard and Elias Ranefur to bank his ticket to the men’s singles final, where he finished the job in style, dispatching Kozul in straight games to win his first senior singles trophy.
Striking his title breakthrough in Havirov, Yuto Kizukuri will be hoping this is the first of many to come, looking to follow in the footsteps of Kaho Akae, who emerged as women’s singles champion.
Akae won her first singles title last season, and has since gone on to back it up three times, with this week’s success taking her tally to four on the WTT Feeder Series.
Seeded third in Havirov, Akae tore her way through the playing field, winning four of her five main draw encounters without dropping a game. But she was put through her paces in the semifinals, requiring four Match Point saves to deny Asuka Sasao, winning 12-10, 7-11, 7-11, 14-12, 11-9.
In the final itself, Huang Yu-Jie tried everything she could to knock Akae off course, but she was unsuccessful in her efforts, as Akae ruthlessly battled past the Chinese Taipei player in 21 minutes 11-3, 11-8, 11-7 to get her hands on more winner’s hardware.
Top seeds Baldwin Chan-Yiu Kwan To defeated Samuel qualifiers Palusek-Damian Floro 11-7, 11-5, 11-4 to clinch the men’s doubles title.
The women’s doubles title went to the Japanese duo of Kahe Akao-Asuka Sasao, who went past Hunag Yu-jie-Tsai Yun-En 11-5, 12-10, 11-5.
Samuel Arpas-Barbora Varady were forced to toil to a 14-12, 11-8, 4-11, 4-11, 11-7 win over Marek Badowski-Zuzzana Wielgos for the mixed doubles crown.
