Patrick Franziska knocked the world No 1, Sora Matsushima, out of WTT Champions Frankfurt on Saturday, and Sabine Winter beat the Asian champion, Chen Yi, to put two Germans into the semi-finals.
Franziska, 34 and ranked 15th, beat the top seed and defending champion 9-11, 13-11, 11-8, 11-7, 10-12, 12-10 in 52 minutes, the last match of the day. Winter, 34 and the world No 13, beat the eighth seed without dropping a game, 11-3, 12-10, 11-7, 11-8 in 34 minutes. No Chinese player reached either semi-final.
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Franziska holds on this time
A week ago Franziska led Jang Woojin 3-1 in the WTT Champions Montpellier final and lost. On Saturday he led Matsushima 3-1 again, after taking the second game 13-11 and the third and fourth 11-8 and 11-7.
Matsushima, 19, who had beaten Franziska in both their previous meetings, took the fifth 12-10. The sixth went to 10-10 and Franziska won the next two points. It was his second long match in two nights after he came from two games down to beat Benedikt Duda 12-10 in the fifth on Friday.
He plays Japan's Shunsuke Togami in the semi-finals. Togami, 25 and the world No 16, ended Wim Verdonschot's run 11-9, 5-11, 11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7 in 50 minutes. Verdonschot, the 21-year-old wildcard ranked 40th, had knocked out Hugo Calderano on Friday and won the second and fifth games, but Togami closed it out 11-7 in the sixth.
Winter's straight-games win
Winter, who plays with an anti-spin rubber, lost 4-1 to Chen in their only previous meeting, at Europe Smash Sweden last year. This time the 22-year-old won three points in the first game, and the only close one was the second, which Winter took 12-10.
Winter is the only German woman left after Annett Kaufmann, Nina Mittelham and Han Ying went out on Friday. Her semi-final opponent is Japan's Satsuki Odo, 22 and the world No 11, who came from 2-1 down to beat Egypt's Hana Goda 10-12, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 in 53 minutes.
Hayata gets her revenge on Kuai
Hina Hayata, the defending women's champion, beat Kuai Man 11-13, 11-7, 6-11, 11-7, 11-3, 13-15, 11-7 in one hour eight minutes, the longest match of the day. Hayata had lost her three previous matches against the world No 4, most recently at the Asian Championships in October.
She led 12-11 in the sixth game and lost it 15-13. In the seventh she pulled away from 7-6 with three points in a row to reach match point at 10-6.
"I think I won because I was able to carry out the tactics I needed to win, so compared with my previous win I felt I have grown a lot, and it has given me a lot of confidence," Hayata told TV Tokyo. Her only earlier win over Kuai came at the Singapore Smash in February.
The 26-year-old said tiredness was building up but that she felt very sharp, and spoke about the crowd. "When I'm losing, they applaud to tell me to keep going," she said. "That's my favourite moment about playing in Germany."
A Japanese final guaranteed
Hayata plays Miwa Harimoto in a rematch of last year's final, which Hayata won 4-3, so a Japanese woman will be in Sunday's final. Harimoto, 18 and the world No 3, beat Chen Xingtong 12-10, 11-5, 6-11, 13-11, 11-13, 11-7 in one hour. She recovered from 4-0 down in the fourth game to win it 13-11, and lost the fifth after leading 10-8, before winning four points in a row from 7-7 in the sixth.
Japan have five of the eight semi-finalists: Hayata, Harimoto, Odo, Togami and Tomokazu Harimoto.
China's men all out
Lin Yun-Ju, the fifth seed, beat Wen Ruibo 12-10, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5 in 34 minutes. Wen, 19, who knocked out Wang Chuqin on Thursday, levelled the first game at 9-9 from 9-5 down and saved a game point, but Lin won the next two points. In the third Wen led 3-0 before Lin won six in a row.
Wen was the last of five Chinese men in the draw. Liang Jingkun and Xiang Peng lost in the first round, and Zhou Qihao lost to Lin on Friday. The Paper noted that China's men have now gone through all six WTT Champions events this year without a title.
Lin, who won this event in 2023, meets Tomokazu Harimoto, the second seed, who beat last year's runner-up, Dang Qiu, 11-6, 15-13, 11-6, 11-5 in 31 minutes, the shortest match of the day. Harimoto has won 10 of their 15 meetings, but Lin beat him in the WTT Champions Doha semi-finals in January. UDN reported that Lin could reach a career-high world No 4 if he keeps winning.
Results in full
- Hina Hayata (JPN) bt Kuai Man (CHN) 11-13, 11-7, 6-11, 11-7, 11-3, 13-15, 11-7
- Lin Yun-Ju (TPE) bt Wen Ruibo (CHN) 12-10, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5
- Miwa Harimoto (JPN) bt Chen Xingtong (CHN) 12-10, 11-5, 6-11, 13-11, 11-13, 11-7
- Tomokazu Harimoto (JPN) bt Dang Qiu (GER) 11-6, 15-13, 11-6, 11-5
- Satsuki Odo (JPN) bt Hana Goda (EGY) 10-12, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7
- Shunsuke Togami (JPN) bt Wim Verdonschot (GER) 11-9, 5-11, 11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7
- Sabine Winter (GER) bt Chen Yi (CHN) 11-3, 12-10, 11-7, 11-8
- Patrick Franziska (GER) bt Sora Matsushima (JPN) 9-11, 13-11, 11-8, 11-7, 10-12, 12-10
Sunday: semi-finals and finals
The semi-finals are on one table from 10am UK time: Hayata against Miwa Harimoto, then Odo against Winter at about 10.45am, Lin against Tomokazu Harimoto at 11.30am and Togami against Franziska at 12.15pm. The women's final is at 4.30pm and the men's at 5.30pm. Times are approximate.
The draw, live scores and the stream are on Eleven's WTT Champions Frankfurt page. Saturday's order of play was in our day five preview, after the day four review.
