{"id":7679,"date":"2026-01-08T08:43:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T01:43:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/?p=7679"},"modified":"2026-01-08T08:43:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T01:43:45","slug":"nayeong-pulls-off-a-miraculous-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/nayeong-pulls-off-a-miraculous-comeback\/","title":{"rendered":"Nayeong pulls off a miraculous comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The highly anticipated opening round of WTT Champions Doha 2026 got off to a blistering start, with Kim Nayeong pulling off a miraculous comeback to progress to the round of 16. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nayeong was dominated in the early proceedings by Singaporean player Zeng Jian in the first match at Lusail Sports Arena, but there was a feeling that the tie could go either way, as both players engaged in long rallies, and benefited from net hits and flicking the end of the table. In the end, <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trailing 2-4 and two games down, Nayeong finally found her rhythm and fired off three consecutive points. As the tie progressed, the Korean\u2019s backhand started to score more and more, and she was clearly setting it up as she tried everything to get back into the match. She took game point again by utilising that powerful backhand.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Deep into the fourth game, the two showed no signs of slowing down, long rallies with pinging shots decorated a game where the two kept trading leads. Jian saved Game Point once before Kim eventually recovered the overall score to 2-2.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nayeong, who had semifinal finishes at WTT Star Contender events in Chennai and Muscat last year, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to become the first player into the round of 16 in Doha, with a hard-earned 7-11, 8-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-9 victory.\u00a0<\/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=\"Zeng Jian vs Kim Nayeong | WS R32 | WTT Champions Doha 2026\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Gz2GP5iAfkc?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>One of the biggest matches in the women\u2019s singles draw saw 17-year-old Miwa Harimoto once again get one over on Korea\u2019s Shin Yubin, with a  11-8, 11-8, 11-8 win. The duo met three times on the WTT stage last year, with Harimoto winning all three of those encounters.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Harimoto came out the aggressor in the early stages, hitting hard spinning balls at Shin to go 8-3 up within minutes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Styles make matches, and these two started game two by cannoning off shots and trying to move each other across the table. As was the case in the first game, the pair shared the points in the opening exchanges before Harimoto established a four-point lead, speaking volumes to the teenager\u2019s ability to adjust to the game state.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the third and final game, Harimoto was in a league of her own. Her 3-0 lead forced Yubinto call a time-out, but that wasn\u2019t much help, as Harimoto scored straight away and didn\u2019t slow down as her lead stretched to 6-2.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With nothing to lose, Yubin threw everything after her Japanese opponent and managed to get within touching distance at 8-7, but was unable to stop a straight games defeat.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elsewhere, World No.10 Dang Qiu got a convincing 11-9,\u00a011-8, 13-11 win over Oh Junsung. Women\u2019s World No.10, Hina Hayata, could have also recorded a straight games victory, but saw Xiaoxin Yang save four game points. In the end, she got the job done 11-8, 15-17, 11-2, 12-10.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elsewhere, Sofia Polcanova has bagged her spot in the women\u2019s singles Round of 16, following her 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7 win over World No.24 Jia Nan Yuan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The win for Polcanova puts her one victory away from matching her career-best finish at a WTT Champions event, the Austrian having reached the quarterfinals at WTT Champions Incheon 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She will need to be at her best form if she is achieve such a feat in Doha, though, with fourth seed Wang Yidi awaiting her in the next round, the Chinese sensation having defeated Cheng I-Ching 12-10, 12-10, 11-8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the first time in his career, Jang Woojin picked up a big-time victory over Alexis Lebrun in the men&#8217;s singles, holding his nerve in a nail-biting showdown to squeeze past the No.8 seed 13-11, 11-5, 14-16, 6-11, 11-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lebrun, who captured the imagination of the passionate home fans at WTT Champions Montpellier 2025 with his run to the semifinals there, was under the cosh early in Wednesday\u2019s clash, struggling to fire up the afterburners as Woojin set the tempo.<\/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=\"Jang Woojin vs Alexis Lebrun | MS R32 | WTT Champions Doha 2026\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/M148e4qikGg?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>It wasn\u2019t for the lack of trying on Lebrun\u2019s part. In fact, with a 7-9 lead under his belt, it looked for all the world that the opening game would be his. But Woojin had other ideas, drawing level at 9-9 before saving game point at 10-11 to steal Lebrun\u2019s thunder, and he\u2019d up the ante in the second, putting clear distance behind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tension filled the arena and Lebrun now had no margin for error. Playing with his heart on his sleeve, Lebrun threw the kitchen sink at his opponent, storming into a 2-7 lead in the third, but an astonishing turnaround would completely put the pressure back on the Frenchman as Woojin somehow flipped the scoreboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two match points would arrive deep in the third, Woojin now sat on the precipice of victory at 10-9 and 11-10. But he\u2019d be made to wait as Lebrun rallied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With desperation in the air, you could see just how much both players wanted the win. A battle of attrition, Woojin and Lebrun couldn\u2019t be separated after four games, but a winner had to be found, and in the end it was Woojin who had the last laugh, digging deep at the last to deny an epic reversal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Today\u2019s match was very tough because I was leading 2-0 but after that, I don\u2019t know, he had more fight, so I was a little afraid. But I&#8217;m happy because I beat him for the first time, so I had fun.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Normally when I play against Alexis, he has good counter for forehand and backhand. And when he starts playing long cut, I play forehand and backhand very slowly, and then he must play forehand and backhand very fast. Then after I changed to playing faster in forehand and backhand, I had many chances during the match. This is how I changed my strategy,&#8221; said Woojin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>World No.12 Benedikt Duda claimed a statement 11-8, 12-10, 11-9 win over Darko Jorgic in another men\u2019s singles Round of 32.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was a perfect start to the event for the German star, who shot out of the gates in the opening game, leading Jorgic 8-4 in points. The latter would offer some resistance, but Duda proceeded to stamp his name on the scoreboard, capturing the first game with an 11-8 tagline.<\/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=\"Darko Jorgic vs Benedikt Duda | MS R32 | WTT Champions Doha 2026\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/c389lPOP3-k?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 second game opened like the first, with Duda marching ahead to an 8-5 point advantage. Jorgic would manage to level with his rival, however, locking play down at 10-10. But it was short-lived, Duda stealing a tight counter-topspin rally and, profiting from Jorgic&#8217;s unforced forehand error, the German claimed a 2-0 lead in games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>World No.14 Jorgic needed an answer and fast, as he scrambled to stay in the contest. Things would begin to look up for the Slovenian, the WTT Champions Montpellier 2025 quarterfinalist appearing the favourite in the third game, now ahead at 6-7. But an unexpected turn of events would haunt him; Duda bounced back, claiming three points on the trot, putting Jorgic in a very serious situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next two points would be split across both parties, giving Duda two immediate chances to seal the match. Jorgic saved the first, prompting a tactical Time-Out from the German.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Returning to the table, Duda began his second match point with a tight, short serve, followed by backspin touch-play. Hunting a slightly loose backspin push, Jorgic tried his luck with a forehand loop, only to be dismissed by a masterful backhand counter from his rival, ultimately sealing Jorgic\u2019s fate and rewarding Duda with a ticket to the Round of 16, where he is due to meet top seed Lin Shidong in a must-watch encounter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The highly anticipated opening round of WTT Champions Doha 2026 got off to a blistering start, with Kim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7686,"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-7679","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\/2026\/01\/Kim-Nayeong-WTT-Champions-Doha-2026.jpg",1920,1080,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kim-Nayeong-WTT-Champions-Doha-2026-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kim-Nayeong-WTT-Champions-Doha-2026-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kim-Nayeong-WTT-Champions-Doha-2026-768x432.jpg",640,360,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kim-Nayeong-WTT-Champions-Doha-2026-1024x576.jpg",640,360,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kim-Nayeong-WTT-Champions-Doha-2026-1536x864.jpg",1536,864,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kim-Nayeong-WTT-Champions-Doha-2026.jpg",1920,1080,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kim-Nayeong-WTT-Champions-Doha-2026-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kim-Nayeong-WTT-Champions-Doha-2026-590x410.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\/2026\/01\/Kim-Nayeong-WTT-Champions-Doha-2026.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7679","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=7679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7687,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7679\/revisions\/7687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}