Miu Hirano has won her first WTT Series title in over three years, stunning No.1 seed Hina Hayata 11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-1, 11-8 in the women\u2019s singles final at WTT Contender Almaty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hirano had to put the high of winning the women\u2019s doubles final behind her quickly and lock in as she stepped into Infinity \u221e Arena to compete against compatriot Hayata, who had only dropped one game all week and had been living up to expectations throughout the event, beating No.7 Elizabeta Abraamian 3-0 and then No.3 seed Adriana Diaz 3-1 in the semifinals.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Hirano, who is ranked more than 30 places below Hayata, came from behind three times on the way to taking game one and was close to doubling her lead when 9-8 up in the second, but the World No.6 hit three in a row to level things up.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hirano took seven of the last 11 points in game three to regain the lead, but what happened next stunned everyone inside Table Tennis Centre ADD, as the World No.38 converted nine winners on the bounce to gain a two-game advantage with a devastating 11-1 win.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following that huge blow, Hayata was able to hold the lead for most of Game Five, but never quite made a full recovery, and four points in a row at 5-6 put Hirano in touching distance before she put the tie to bed, sealing her first WTT Series title since WTT Contender Zagreb 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the men\u2019s singles final, Shunsuke Togami also won the third WTT Series title of his career, and his second this year, beating France\u2019s Simon Gauzy in straight games.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This match saw the No.1 seed, Togami, go up against the No.2 seed, Gauzy, and it was the Frenchman who actually dominated early proceedings, leading 7-9 and dropping game point before the Japanese star stole the opener.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can\u2019t help but think that if Gauzy had held on, it could have been a very different match, as Togami rode the high of stealing the opening game at the death into the second, leading 5-2, then 8-6 before doubling his lead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From there, Togami found his flow state, taking 17 from a possible 21 points to go 6-1 up in Game Four before taking the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a cruel twist of fate, these two will now travel to Macao for WTT Champions Macao, where they will play each other in the Round of 32.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before the singles finals got underway, India\u2019s Syndrela Das-Sutirtha Mukherjee lost the women\u2019s doubles final title to Hirano-Miyuu Kihara 11-2, 11-5, 20-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nen\u2019s Doubles final was won by Lev Katsman-Maksim Grebnev, who beat Mattias Karlsson-Kristian Karlsson 11-9, 8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Miu Hirano has won her first WTT Series title in over three years, stunning No.1 seed Hina Hayata<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-15523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-table-tennis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t