Benedikt Duda has given German fans at WTT Champions Frankfurt more reasons to celebrate, as the World No.39 beat WTT Champions Montpellier winner Jang Woojin 3-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-4. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heading to Frankfurt after winning his first WTT Champions title, Woojin had the chance to do what no men\u2019s singles player has done before: win back-to-back trophies at this level. The Korean player was handed what could have been considered, on paper at least, a favourable draw. The World No.8 has won all his WTT meetings against Duda, and last lost to him on the international stage over four years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Storming to an 11-3 lead in the first, it looked like Woojin was going to extend his own winning streak with ease. But Duda planted himself at the table, absorbing everything Woojin threw at him and turned the tables after that opening-game loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Woojin took a tight game three by coming from behind twice and building a two-point cushion for the first time at 9-7, and his 2-1 lead completely took the wind out of Woojin\u2019s sails, and he cruised to victory in the fourth.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Staying in the men\u2019s singles draw, Hugo Calderano and Liang Jingkun played out another classic, with the \u2018Thrill from Brazil\u2019 once again coming out on top in a match that went the distance 7-11, 13-11, 15-13, 9-11, 11-9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was only the third WTT meeting between these legends, but their most high-profile clashes have come at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals. In their first meeting at that level, Jingkun won 4-3, but last year, Calderano became the first player from the Americas to make the final four of the event at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals Doha 2025. The match again went to seven games, with Calderano claiming the victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In their match in Frankfurt, Calderano almost went down 2-0, as Jingkun saved five game points. With the scores equal going into the third, another flurry of game points came for Calderano, as Jingkun this time saved three but dropped one of his own to slip behind 2-1.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The match looked over when Calderano was leading 8-3 in the fourth, but the \u2018Comeback King\u2019 Jingkun hit eight from a possible nine to force a decider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jingkun again came from behind in the fifth, hitting six in a row to lead 6-8, but another huge momentum shift came when Calderano hit four on the spin at the most crucial moment before converting his second of two match points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patrick Franziska got Germany\u2019s next win, beating Xiang Peng 11-4, 4-11, 13-11, 11-4. But the winning run came to an end when No.8 seed Chen Yi beat World No.259 Josephina Neumann 11-7, 11-3, 11-5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wen Ruibo eliminated Wang Chuqin in the first Round of 16 match of the week, striding to a comprehensive straight-games victory over the former World No.1 in 11-7, 11-8, 11-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ruibo would have known going into this one that his chances of beating Chuqin would increase dramatically if he could take the opener. And, after a tight start to game one, Ruibo ripped five winners in a row right at the death to draw first blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chuqin came out the aggressor in the second game, clearly looking to right the wrong of that first game. Right off the bat, the two Chinese heavyweights engaged in full-blooded rallies, standing way back from the table and firing blistering forehand shot after forehand shot. And it was the rising 19-year-old who dominated those early exchanges in game two, showing great athleticism to get right down to the floor to return and go up 4-1.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the level of table tennis that was on show from both players in game two, it easily could have been Chuqin who was leading, but the points kept falling in favour of Ruibo , who took his second of four game points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ruibo , competing in his fifth WTT Champions event, had to be prepared to weather the storm in Game Three, as Chuqin had no choice but to throw everything at him to avoid an early exit.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Ruibo, the WTT Champions Chongqing 2026 finalist, took a 3-2 lead, he let out his first big cheer of the match, and it was clear why, as he was playing phenomenally, threading shots through the eye of a needle as he again started to pull away at 5-2.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ruibo confined his compatriot to a straight-games defeat by again resisting a strong attack from Chuqin, where a series of thunderous forehand shots rained down on him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Benedikt Duda has given German fans at WTT Champions Frankfurt more reasons to celebrate, as the World No.39<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-17470","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\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\n\t\t