Japan won six of the 12 singles titles at this year's six WTT Champions events, and China finished the series with one, after Hina Hayata and Tomokazu Harimoto won in Frankfurt on Sunday.
Miwa Harimoto won three of the women's titles, in Chongqing, Yokohama and Macao. Her brother Tomokazu won two, in Yokohama and Frankfurt, and Hayata retained her Frankfurt title. China's only champion was Sun Yingsha, in Montpellier eight days ago. Their men did not win a title and have not reached a semi-final since March.
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Miwa Harimoto's three finals
Each of Miwa Harimoto's three titles came at the expense of a Chinese player. She beat Kuai Man 4-3 in the Chongqing final in March, winning the deciding game 11-5, then beat Chen Xingtong 4-2 in Yokohama in August. In Macao in September she won the first two games against Chen Yi, lost the next three and took the last two, the decider 12-10.
Chinese women reached the final at five of the six events, but four of those finals were lost. Zhu Yuling of Macao beat Chen Xingtong 4-2 in the first final of the year, in Doha in January, and the only Chinese win came in an all-Chinese final in Montpellier, where Sun beat Kuai 8-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-9, 11-6.
Frankfurt was the one event without a Chinese woman in the final. Sun and the world No 1, Wang Manyu, both withdrew injured before the event, and of the four Chinese women who played, Wang Yidi lost to the 43-year-old Han Ying in the first round. Kuai lost 4-3 to Hayata, Chen Xingtong 4-2 to Miwa Harimoto and Chen Yi 4-0 to Sabine Winter in the quarter-finals.
Six events, five men's champions
The men's titles were spread more widely. Lin Yun-Ju beat Jang Woojin 4-0 in the Doha final, Félix Lebrun beat Wen Ruibo 4-1 in Chongqing and Harimoto beat Oh Junsung 4-1 in Yokohama. Truls Moregard won in Macao, beating Hugo Calderano 4-1, before Jang came from 3-1 down to beat Patrick Franziska in Montpellier last Sunday and Harimoto beat Franziska 4-2 in Frankfurt.
Wen, 19, was the only Chinese man to reach a final, in Chongqing, where he beat Harimoto 4-2 in the semi-finals and won the sixth game 21-19. Lin Shidong reached the semi-finals in Doha. No Chinese man has played in the last four of a WTT Champions event since, through Yokohama, Macao, Montpellier and Frankfurt.
In Frankfurt, Wen beat Wang Chuqin 3-0 in the last 16, only for Lin to beat him 4-0 in the quarter-finals. Wang, the world No 4, was playing his first event for more than a month after injury. Liang Jingkun and Xiang Peng lost in the first round and Zhou Qihao lost to Lin in the last 16.
Frankfurt again
It is the second year running that no Chinese player has reached a singles semi-final at WTT Champions Frankfurt. In 2025, Sora Matsushima beat Dang Qiu in the men's final and Hayata beat Miwa Harimoto in the women's.
The results have been followed by criticism at home. A commentary published on Sina after Chen Yi's defeat argued that the problem went beyond young players failing under pressure, pointing to training that produced players with similar styles and few answers to unfamiliar opponents. China's coaches had already said after the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar that their young players struggled with pressure.
What comes next
Harimoto's win in Frankfurt was his 10th WTT title. L'Équipe reported that it will take him past Félix Lebrun to world No 2 when the next world rankings are published.
The two biggest events of the year are still to come. China are hosts at the Mixed Team World Cup in Chengdu, which starts on 29 November, and the WTT Finals Hong Kong follow from 8 December, where Harimoto is the defending men's champion, having beaten Moregard in last year's final, and Wang Manyu defends the women's title.
