{"id":7191,"date":"2025-12-14T22:25:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T15:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/?p=7191"},"modified":"2025-12-14T22:25:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T15:25:29","slug":"harimoto-makes-it-count-on-the-fourth-manyu-retains-her-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/harimoto-makes-it-count-on-the-fourth-manyu-retains-her-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Harimoto makes it count on the fourth, Manyu retains her title"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>An outcome four years in the making, Tomokazu Harimoto has finally realised his dream of becoming WTT Finals Hong Kong 2025 champion, holding aloft the men\u2019s singles trophy for the first time in his career with an emotional 11-8, 5-11, 11-9, 10-12, 14-12, 11-2 victory over Truls Moregard in the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, Wang Manyu won the women\u2019s singles title, beating her compatriot Kuai Man 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 10-12 in the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Colliding for the first time in 14 months, the stakes were higher than ever before for Harimoto and Moregard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Harimoto, his three defeats at the final hurdle in 2021, 2022 and 2024 left him with a point to prove, while Moregard had the opportunity to become the first European player to lift a WTT Finals singles winner\u2019s trophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With four of the opening points going to the Japanese superstar, the early signs looked ominous for his opponent. But Moregard, famed for his unrivaled determination, struck back, flipping the scores to 5-7 in his favour. The two would continue to trade blows point after point, leaning on their world class attacking attributes to send the fans inside Hong Kong Coliseum wild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Harimoto would go to take that crucial opening game, but it was clear his Swedish counterpart wasn\u2019t going to back down. The two players were neck-and-neck up to 3-4, when an edge ball off a vicious forehand down the line from Moregard prompted Harimoto to call for a TTR challenge. The review would prove unsuccessful, and the momentum completely shifted, with Moregard pressing home the advantage to level the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With so little to separate the finalists, the pressure points intensified to a completely new level, with each and every rally seeing the players push one another to their limits. A wicked backhand counter across the table saw Harimoto take the third, before it would go down to the wire again in game four, Moregard unleashing rocket after rocket to hit back, whipping the crowd up as deafening cheers filled the arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Truls Moregard vs Tomokazu Harimoto | MS Final | #WTTHongKong 2025\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PdLd6rLPB6U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The fifth game felt huge in the overall context of the match, and so it would probe to be. Setting up three game points at 7-10, Moregard turned to his coaching corner in celebration, sending his opportunity, but Harimoto would tighten the margins to 9-10. Europe Smash \u2013 Sweden 2025 champion Moregard called time -out, looking to ice the game, but to no avail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The difference in emotions couldn\u2019t be more stark. Harimoto celebrating with real jubilation, while Moregard returned to his corner in dejection. From that moment on, it was one-way traffic. With the finish line in sight, Harimoto upped the ante, unleashing one last burst of energy to seal the deal in six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Falling to his knees after finally achieving a feat that had eluded him for so long, Harimoto had done it. Embracing a teary Moregard after the match, the Japanese sensation had finally conquered the WTT Finals stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier in the semi-finals, the top two seeds in the men\u2019s singles race &#8211; Wang Chuqin and Lin Shidong failed to advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Harimoto defeated Lin Shidong in an seven-game epic 12-10, 11-4, 10-12, 10-12, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moregard did not even rause his bat as an injury saw Chuqin withdrawing from the contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Manyu retained the women&#8217;s singles trophy she won last year. While the first game was a slow burner, the pair delivered a spectacle to the crowd at the Hong Kong Coliseum in the next one, with several fast-paced rallies drawing cheers from the thousands of fans in the stands. The new rhythm of play suited the defending champion, who romped to a 6-1 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the resilient Man, who has the second-youngest women\u2019s singles finalist on the WTT Finals stage, grew into the battle, coming back from 8-3 down to take the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the third game, both players were going to war, and the hard-hitting shots continued, but neither was able to gain a significant lead. Manyu, who had won seven WTT Series titles before this, got to game point first, winning three crucial points in a row.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Determined not to lose the fourth, Manyu then went 3-0 up in no time at all in what turned out to be the most one-sided game of the night, the only one where the scores were never level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kuai Man vs Wang Manyu | WS Final | #WTTHongKong 2025\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_RSEnDzoVfo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>3-1 down, Man had to win the next game to stay alive, but her shots were just not landing in the early stages. At 6-3, it looked like it was over, but just as she did in the second, Man scored a series of points, took the lead at 7-6, and recovered it once more before converting game point.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Neck and neck throughout, every point was becoming more and more precious, and the players\u2019 emotions began to show. Manyu released a loud cheer and a fist bump after dominating a great rally, moments after shouting in disappointment as she missed the table.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Man saved championship point twice, and a phenomenal rally where both players were seemingly miles away from the table gave Wang another shot, which she duly took.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That win landed Manyu a winner\u2019s cheque of USD80,000, in addition to 1500 ITTF Table Tennis World Ranking points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An outcome four years in the making, Tomokazu Harimoto has finally realised his dream of becoming WTT Finals<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7201,"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-7191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-table-tennis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Tomokazu-Harimoto_compressed.jpg",1920,1080,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Tomokazu-Harimoto_compressed-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Tomokazu-Harimoto_compressed-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Tomokazu-Harimoto_compressed-768x432.jpg",640,360,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Tomokazu-Harimoto_compressed-1024x576.jpg",640,360,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Tomokazu-Harimoto_compressed-1536x864.jpg",1536,864,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Tomokazu-Harimoto_compressed.jpg",1920,1080,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Tomokazu-Harimoto_compressed-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Tomokazu-Harimoto_compressed-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/category\/newsbeat\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Newsbeat<\/a>","tag_info":"Newsbeat","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Tomokazu-Harimoto_compressed.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7191"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7202,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7191\/revisions\/7202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}