On January 10th, Beijing time, the second day of the main event of the 2025 WTT Doha Star Challenge concluded. The tournament lasts for a total of 6 days, with 2 days of qualifying matches and a dense schedule over the 4 main event days.
Currently, the doubles events have determined their finalists, all of which are dominated by Chinese and Japanese teams. Both the Chinese national table tennis team (Guo Ping) and Japan have advanced to the finals in three doubles events. In the semi-finals, Chen Yuanyu/Chen Yi and Qian Tianyi/Shi Xunyao were eliminated, both losing to Japanese opponents.
Xiang Peng/Xu Yingbin has advanced to the men's doubles final, where they will face Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto/Koki Niwa. Although they are at a slight disadvantage, they maintain an attacking mindset and still have a chance to defeat them.
He Zhuojia/Zong Geeman has made it to the women's doubles final, facing Japan's Miharu Ito/Sakura Nagai, who are also at a slight disadvantage. Their opponents are very strong, so they will do their best to compete.
Huang Youzheng/Shi Xunyao can be considered as dark horses, continuously eliminating seeded players. Their opponents in the final are Koki Niwa/Miharu Ito, which is a more balanced match with an equal chance of victory.
As the second seed in the women's singles, Tomokazu Harimoto was surprisingly eliminated in the first round, losing to Thailand's second female singles player, Orawan, becoming the biggest upset and the highest-seeded singles player to be eliminated.
If we say that continuous participation in competitions and playing in three events affected energy and form, it doesn't quite explain it. The main issue is still with personal performance. In a tightly contested second set, Harimoto failed to win, which would have resulted in a 3-0 lead. The turning point came in the fourth set when Harimoto made many mistakes and was completely disoriented on the court. Even in the decisive set, she was unable to turn the situation around.
Japan experienced mixed fortunes, with half of their women's singles players eliminated. Three players advanced while three were eliminated. Advancing were Hina Hayata, Miyuu Koga, and Miu Hirano; eliminated were Tomokazu Harimoto, Mima Ito, and Saki Shibutani. This was somewhat unexpected, with two of the losses coming against Guo Ping.
Guo Ping's women's singles also had six participants, with five successfully advancing. Only young player Zong Geeman was eliminated, while Qian Tianyi, He Zhuojia, Chen Yi, Shi Xunyao, and Kuai Man advanced.
In the men's singles, Huang Youzheng defeated India's Sharath Kamal 3-0, while Chen Yuanyu lost 1-3 to German veteran Dang Qiu, with scores of 12-10, 10-12, 2-11, 8-11. Chen Yuanyu missed an opportunity in the second set, leading to a collapse in the third set. Guo Ping now only has two male singles players remaining: Huang Youzheng and Xiang Peng.
Japan's male singles performed outstandingly, with Koki Niwa defeating Manav Vikash Thakkar 3-0, Yukiya Utagawa beating Kai Stumper 3-2, Daiki Yoshimoto defeating world champion Mattias Karlsson 3-0, Tomokazu Harimoto and Masataka Morizono both sweeping their opponents 3-0 to advance. Only Yuta Tanaka was eliminated, losing 1-3 to Robles.
In the top 16 of the men's singles, Japan occupies five spots, while South Korea only has one remaining player, Kang Hyo-jun. Currently, Tomokazu Harimoto remains the favorite to win the championship, with Xiang Peng also having a chance. His next match against Koki Niwa will be tough. If he advances, he is likely to face Tomokazu Harimoto in the next round, which means Xiang Peng will be surrounded by three Japanese players in the quarterfinals, making it difficult to break through. Huang Youzheng is in the 4/4 zone, facing Dang Qiu. It will be challenging for Guo Ping's male singles to win the championship this time.