On January 17th, Beijing time, the final day of the 2025 WTT regular challenge match in Masqat arrived. This competition was mainly participated by non-mainstream teammates of the national table tennis team, and their overall performance was still good. Four finals have already ended, and the national table tennis team only won the women's singles championship, Shi Xunyao defeated Kuai Man 4-0. They were unable to win championships in three doubles events, with neither the men's doubles nor the women's doubles reaching the finals, while the mixed doubles team won the runner-up.
In the final of the men's singles, 19-year-old national table tennis player Chen Yuanyu faced off against top seed Tomokazu Harimoto. Both players participated in last week's Doha Star Match, where Harimoto won the men's singles championship and advanced to the finals in both consecutive matches, with both the men's doubles and singles reaching the finals.
Harimoto had a tough first round, narrowly defeating Iran's Shams, followed by another close victory over Ma Jinbao in the second round. He also struggled to defeat Huang Youzheng in the quarterfinals before sealing Huang Zhentian in the semifinals. Chen Yuanyu, on the other hand, successively defeated Apollonia, Ocholov, Manash Sha, and Guo Guanhong. This time, Chen Yuanyu played very steadily, demonstrating excellent technical ability, which greatly contributed to his reaching the final, bringing him significant gains.
The match began with Chen Yuanyu quickly taking the initiative, repeatedly smashing straight into Harimoto's forehand position to lead 4-1. He attacked proactively, but then made consecutive errors, allowing Harimoto to catch up to 5-5. Errors continued on both forehand and backhand sides, falling behind 5-8. Unfortunately, he ultimately lost 8-11, with multiple high returns on serve.
In the second set, the two players were locked in a tight battle from the start, tied at 4-4. Chen Yuanyu's offense came alive again, leading 7-5. His rhythm gradually emerged as he played steadily, repeatedly counterattacking with his forehand across the line to win 11-7 and level the score.
The third set saw both players fighting over the first three boards, with Chen Yuanyu remaining proactive in attack, returning to 4-4. Both players delivered high-quality attacks, but Harimoto made consecutive errors afterward. Chen Yuanyu showed good awareness of shot placement and played steadily, winning another set 11-7.
The fourth set started with intense competition, tied at 3-3. Chen Yuanyu kept missing with his forehand, while Harimoto countered fiercely with his backhand and actively twisted and pulled on serve, adjusting his shots to Chen Yuanyu and scoring continuously. Harimoto took the set 11-3, having made better changes and significantly improved quality.
In the fifth set, Chen Yuanyu quickly changed his shot placement at the start, leading 3-0. His forehand and backhand attacks connected quickly, and he maintained the lead at 8-4 with stable play and good rhythm control. Harimoto was somewhat restricted and made more errors, clearly collapsing. Chen Yuanyu played very positively overall, winning 11-4.
The sixth set started with a 3-3 tie. After the timeout, Harimoto clearly played more aggressively, starting to shout and leading 7-4. Chen Yuanyu's state clearly declined, and he began making various errors. However, he managed to catch up to 10-10 and eventually successfully reversed the situation to win 12-10, defeating Harimoto 4-2 and claiming the men's singles championship of this station.
Chen Yuanyu played outstandingly in this match, although there were some ups and downs, he remained relatively stable overall, able to adjust in time, playing proactively. Although the quality of individual boards was not particularly high, the variety of shot placements was very successful. After securing the final point, Chen Yuanyu roared in excitement, after all, it was his first men's singles championship in a challenge match.