Wim Verdonschot (Photo WTT)
Wim Verdonschot has pulled off the biggest upset of WTT Champions Frankfurt 2026 so far, beating World No.7 Hugo Calderano (11-5, 11-9, 7-11, 13-11).
Playing in his first WTT Champions event and qualifying for Frankfurt as a wildcard, Verdonschot was not overawed by the occasion, setting up seven game points in the opener, and he got the biggest cheer of the day so far when he converted the second.
Verdonschot was outside the Top 150 in the ITTF World Rankings 12 months ago, but a number of wins on the WTT Series and a title at WTT Feeder Lille have propelled the 21-year-old to World No.40, a career-high.
Hitting an 80% serve success rate and playing some of the best table tennis of his young career, Verdonschot was in dreamland when leading 7-3 in the second. But the ‘Thrill from Brazil’ was never going to be out of this one for too long, and he levelled at 7-7.
You could cut the tension with a knife when they were level at 9-9, but Verdonschot was unfazed, taking two points on Calderano’s serve to move to within one game of the biggest win of his career.
Calderano was simply unplayable in the second, dominating rallies with his trademark power forehands to bring the match to 2-1, but the question was whether he could do it two more times.
There were signs in that game that Calderano was still vulnerable, as Verdonschot saved two Game Points. The young German continued to apply pressure in the fourth, utilising a sublime reverse pendulum serve as he went up 4-2. But Calderano again came fighting back, hitting six from seven to lead 5-8.
Another huge momentum swing came when Verdonschot scored six of the last eight to come from behind and set up two Match Points.
Verdonschot was on the edge of the biggest win of his career, and he just needed to hold his nerve, but Calderano was channelling all his frustration into getting back into the match and saved them both.
This match was pure cinema, and Verdonschot again got Match Point, but the 30-year-old saved it. Yet another opportunity presented itself to Verdonschot at 12-11, and in a huge anticlimax, Calderano faulted his serve to end the match.
How it ended will not matter to Verdonschot, who advances to the quarterfinals by pulling off the biggest win of his career.
Patrick Franziska became the fourth German to make the quarterfinals of WTT Champions Frankfurt, coming back from two games down and saving three match points to beat compatriot Benedikt Duda 8-11, 13-15, 11-7, 15-13, 12-10.
Duda progressed to the Round of 16 after beating WTT Champions Montpellier winner Jang Woojin, and his reward was a match against Franziska, another player he had never beaten on the WTT Series.
Wildcard Duda could not have asked for a better start, setting up four Game Points in the opener, and then taking his third in Game Two after denying Franziska two to double his advantage.
Franziska, a former World No.8, who reached his first WTT Champions final in Montpellier last week, got one game back, then saved two Match Points, and dropped two Game Points before forcing a decider.
The German giant was then leading 5-1 in the fifth, but Duda levelled at 6-6 and again at 8-8 in a wild final game. Against the run of play, it was Duda who got the first Match Point of this game, but he was left sitting on his bench with his head in his hands, distraught, after Franziska saved and then sealed the win.
Earlier in the day, Shunsuke Togami beat Oh Junsung in a thriller that went to five games 11-8, 3-11, 11-5, 4-11, 11-5.
After hitting three in a row at the end of game one, Togami was comprehensively beaten in the second, conceding five straight off the bat, and then another four in a row as Junsung levelled the match.
Togami reestablished his lead but was again on the wrong end of a one-sided game in the fourth, with Oh hitting seven in a row.
After dominating Togami two games, Junsung would have been wondering how he was not fully in control, and even more questions will be asked when he reflects on the match, after it was his turn to be dominated, with Togami not falling behind once and putting in his most impressive performance of the match to take the decider.
In the women’s singles, Annett Kaufmann was unable to pull off an upset against Hina Hayata 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5.
In their first WTT meeting, Hayata was finding her groove with smart backhand play, hitting the ball inside the table as an antidote to Kaufmann’s power as she battled back from 4-6 down to lead 8-6.
Kaufmann, playing in her fifth WTT Champions and her fourth in Frankfurt, returned to Game Two with a heavy strap on her left elbow, but that didn’t stop her from taking it to Hayata, playing with a long serve to build a comfortable four-point lead and level the match.
The former ITTF Youth World Championships winner Kaufmann had responded perfectly to that opening-game defeat, and now it was time to see how defending champion Hayata would reply.
Kaufmann kept the momentum and built a strong 3-6 lead, but when Hayata closed the gap to just one point, the German called a time-out.
These two were identical in points won on their serve when Hayata levelled at 6-6, but it was the Japanese World No.6 who was growing into the match and creeping towards the 11-point mark, and after seven of the last nine points went her way, she had three Game Points and regained the lead.
Into the fourth, Kaufmann was being taught a lesson by Hayata, who had adapted wonderfully to the pressure the 20-year-old had put on her, storming to an 8-3 lead and getting a standing ovation from her coach.
The writing was on the wall for Kaufmann now, unless she could pull off something spectacular, but at six Match Points, the task was too much, and Hayata booked her spot in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
