Sabine Winter (Photo ITTF)
Germany’s Sabine Winter continued one of the tournament’s most compelling stories, defeating China’s Qin Yuxuan 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8 to book her place in the quarterfinals of the TTF Men’s and Women’s World Cup Macao 2026
Winter dropped the opening game but wasted little time in finding her footing, claiming the next four in convincing fashion to complete the win. A bold decision to switch to anti-spin rubber in 2025 has transformed her game, and the rewards have been plain to see, strong performances at WTT events, winning the European Cup, and now the quarterfinals at the World Cup in Macao, China.
Ten years on from her last appearance at this stage, Winter is back and from this week we can see this is no fluke. She now faces China’s Wang Yidi in the quarterfinals, who secured her own spot with a 11-7, 11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 11-8 win over Japan’s Miwa Harimoto.
It is the first quarterfinal match to be confirmed, and promises to be a fascinating contest. Yidi leads their head-to-head 3-1, but Winter will arrive with confidence, having defeated Yidi 4-2 just weeks ago in the quarterfinals of the WTT Singapore Smash, the German will know she has what it takes to take this dream World Cup run even further.
“I’m feeling great. It’s very nice to be in the quarterfinals of the World Cup, and I’m definitely going to enjoy the next match. This is my peak at the moment. But I hope I can still improve my playing style a bit more and maybe become even a little bit better. Wang Yidi is a very tough opponent. I will have nothing to lose. I’ll just try my best, fight for every point, and just enjoy the fact that I’m still playing in this tournament,” said Winter.
Top seed China’s Sun Yingsha faced perhaps her toughest test of the tournament so far, taking on teammate Kuai Man in a match that carried recent history. Just weeks ago at the WTT Champions in Chongqing, Kuai had defeated Sun 4-2.
Sun, who has just reached a remarkable 200 consecutive weeks as world number one, was able to deliver the win 9-11, 11-4, 10-12, 12-10, 11-6, 13-11, is chasing an historic third consecutive Women’s World Cup title, something no woman has ever achieved, and matched only once in World Cup history by Fan Zhendong.
Having already claimed the 2024 and 2025 titles, Yingsha knows exactly what it takes to win here and she will need every bit of that experience to navigate the challenges that remain. She will face the winner of France’s Jia Nan Yuan and Egypt’s Hana Goda in the quarterfinals
“It was a really tough match to win. Given how much Kuan Man has improved this cycle and her current overall strength, we’re getting close and closer in level. At the same stadium last year, we met in the final. This time we faced each other right in the first match in the main draw. I went into the match, fully anticipating all kinds of difficulties. We’re so familiar with each other. We both brought out our A game in terms of our serve, receive and rally quality. Game 6 was particularly hard for me. I managed to win that one to close out the match. I think this match felt like a final,” said Yingsha.
Japan’s fourth seed Tomokazu Harimoto produced one of the matches of the tournament so far, fighting back from 0-2 down to defeat Germany’s Dang Qiu 4-3 in a contest that lasted the best part of an hour.
Harimoto clawed his way back to 3-2, only for Dang to level again at 3-3 and force a deciding game. In the seventh, Harimoto was composed and clinical when it mattered most, closing out the match with the kind of calm that belied just how tight the contest had been. Having lost his previous two encounters against Dang, Harimoto spoke about the adjustments he had made heading into the match.
“What made this match different was how I managed the points where I didn’t do so well in the past. I improved those specific areas, and during the match today, there were many moments where I had to adjust my play. It was a combination of good pre-match preparation and how flexible I stayed during the game. I really had to use my brain to adjust as needed to get the win,” said Harimoto.
Harimoto will face the winner of China’s Wen Ruibo and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju in the quarterfinals.
The day ended in style with a historic all-French showdown, the first senior international encounter between Alexis Lebrun and Thibault Poret. Both players arrived in the Round of 16 making their Singles World Cup main draw debuts but it was Alexis who came through to claim his quarterfinal spot, winning 3-11, 16-14, 13-11, 11-4, 11-7 despite being hit with an emphatic 11-3 opening game from Poret.
Alexis composed himself from there, focusing on his backhand which he knows he can make winners with and bring him back into the match, taking the next four games to advance in what was a lively and entertaining contest between two of France’s most exciting talents.
He will face the winner of Shunsuke Togami and Hugo Calderano, the reigning champion in his next match.
“It was very difficult because I was very stressed, and Thibault was play amazing in the first set and killed me. I was a little bit surprised at the score, and I go to my bench and I say ‘Okay, you need to play better than this, because with this level, you have no chance,’ and I try to calm myself, and to find the solution with my backhand, because I know my backhand is the key, when I’m stressed, it’s with my backhand that I can come back. So, yeah, it works, and I’m very happy,” said Alexis.
RESULTS ROUND OF 16
Men’s singles: Alexis Lebrun (Fra) bt Thibault Poret (Fra) 3-11, 16-14, 13-11, 11-4, 11-7; Truls Moregard (Swe) bt Patrick Franziska (Ger) 13-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-4; Sora Matsushima (Jpn) bt Jang Woojin (Kor) 11-13, 11-6, 11-7, 12-10, 11-8; Tomokazu Harimoto (Jpn) bt Dang Qiu (Ger) 11-13, 8-11, 12-10, 13-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-6;
Women’s singles: Wang Yidi (Chn) bt Miwa Harimoto (Jpn) 11-7, 11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 11-8; Sun Yingsha (Chn) bt Kuai Man (Chn) 9-11, 11-4, 10-12, 12-10, 11-6, 13-11; Wang Manyu (Chn) bt Mima Ito (Jpn) 11-9, 11-6, 11-5, 11-3; Sabine Winter (Ger) bt Qin Yuxuan (Chn) 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8;
