On January 11th, Beijing time, the 2025 WTT Doha Star Challenge continued, and the semi-final spots for both the women's singles and men's singles have been determined. In the women's singles semi-finals, China and Japan each occupy two spots. Among the top eight, the Chinese team secured five spots, but unfortunately, two players were eliminated due to two internal matches in the quarter-finals, along with He Zhuojia's loss to Nagasaki Miu.
Despite the elimination of several main Japanese women's singles players, former doubles partners Miharu Kikuchi and Nagasaki Miu successfully advanced, both reaching the semi-finals. This time, the women's singles semi-finals were quite unexpected, as not only did the top four seeds fail to reach the semi-finals, but the top eight seeds were also completely eliminated.
Only Nagasaki Miu, seeded among the top 16, advanced, creating a dark horse. The next two women's singles semi-finals will be between China and Japan, with Chen Yi facing Miharu Kikuchi and Kuai Man facing Nagasaki Miu.
In the men's singles quarter-finals:
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Aruna defeated Park Kang-hyun 3-1 (11-9, 11-8, 4-11, 11-9). Park Kang-hyun was the last remaining South Korean male player, but he ultimately lost. Aruna's performance this time was very stable, playing steadily and fully utilizing his advantage in forehand shots. He narrowly won three games, demonstrating good control over the match with fewer mistakes.
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Tomokazu Harimoto defeated Koki Niwa 3-0 (13-11, 11-3, 11-5). Prior to the match, Koki Niwa was in great form, having defeated Xiang Peng and displaying excellent skills. However, after a crucial first game where he narrowly lost to Harimoto, he quickly lost his momentum in the second game and was unable to recover, being completely dominated by Harimoto. Of course, Harimoto's state in this tournament has also been excellent.
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Grötz defeated Qiu Dang 3-2 (10-12, 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 12-10). Qiu Dang was the second seed in the men's singles and a strong contender for the title. The match was fiercely contested, with the scores in all five games being very close. The decisive game was decided by just two points, with victory truly hanging by a thread, and even lucky points influencing the outcome. Grötz remained stable during rallies and had fine control over the table.
Qiu Dang became the third top seed to be eliminated from the men's singles, following the exits of the third seed, Franziska, and the fourth seed, Darko. Only the top seed, Tomokazu Harimoto, remains.
- Daiki Shozuka defeated Wong Chun Ting 3-2 (12-10, 7-11, 12-10, 7-11, 13-11). Another five-game battle took place, with the decisive game also being decided by just two points. Daiki Shozuka narrowly won three games, which is a pity for Wong Chun Ting, who played well. Daiki Shozuka's state in this tournament has also been good, rarely showing outstanding performances in singles before.
In the upcoming semi-finals, Tomokazu Harimoto will face Aruna, and Daiki Shozuka will face Grötz. For Harimoto, whether he can win the men's singles championship will depend on this match against Aruna. Last year, he lost to him in the championship match. Aruna is tenacious and has superior forehand abilities compared to Harimoto. Currently, Harimoto still has a greater chance of winning and the highest probability of claiming the title.