Wim Verdonschot, a 21-year-old German wildcard ranked 40th in the world, knocked Hugo Calderano out of WTT Champions Frankfurt on Friday, and Sabine Winter beat Han Ying in an all-German match to reach the women's quarter-finals.
Verdonschot beat the sixth seed 11-5, 11-9, 7-11, 13-11 in 33 minutes. Later in the evening Patrick Franziska came from two games down to beat his Germany teammate Benedikt Duda 12-10 in the fifth, which means four Germans, Verdonschot, Franziska, Dang Qiu and Winter, are in Saturday's quarter-finals.
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Verdonschot's biggest win
Calderano, 30 and the world No 7, reached the semi-finals in Montpellier last week and needed 52 minutes to beat Liang Jingkun on Thursday. Verdonschot, playing his first WTT Champions event, took the first game 11-5 and led the second 7-3. Calderano drew level at 9-9, but the German won the next two points.
The Brazilian won the third 11-7 and led 8-5 in the fourth. Verdonschot reached match point at 10-8. Calderano saved three, but at 12-11 he served a fault and the match was over.
"I'm still shaking," Verdonschot, who plays for Borussia Dortmund, told tischtennis.de. "That was an unbelievable match. I think I played at a very, very good level."
Asked whom he wanted in the quarter-finals, Verdonschot picked Togami, saying he had never played the Japanese or even trained with him. He gets his wish.
Franziska wins the German match
Duda, 32, who beat the Montpellier champion Jang Woojin on Thursday, won the first game 11-8 and the second 15-13. Franziska, 34 and ranked 15th, took the third 11-7 and the fourth 15-13, and won the decider 12-10 after 51 minutes 11 seconds, the longest match of the day. Both players called a timeout.
Franziska led Jang 3-1 in the Montpellier final on Sunday and lost. He now plays Sora Matsushima, the world No 1, top seed and defending champion, in the last match on Saturday.
Winter, Kaufmann and Mittelham
Winter, 34 and the world No 13, needed 17 minutes 13 seconds to beat Han, 11-8, 11-7, 11-3. Han, the 43-year-old defender, had knocked out the third seed, Wang Yidi, on Wednesday.
Winter plays Chen Yi, the Asian champion and eighth seed, for a place in the semi-finals. Chen lost the first game 11-3 to Ukraine's Margaryta Pesotska in the last match of the night and needed a fifth, which she won 11-2.
Annett Kaufmann, 20 and the European singles runner-up, lost to Hina Hayata, the fifth seed, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5. Kaufmann said afterwards she had felt extreme pain on her backhand, which got worse as the match went on. "I could have won that," she said. "I think the turning point was simply that I couldn't feel my fingers."
Kuai Man, the fourth seed, beat Nina Mittelham, who missed Montpellier with back problems, 11-4, 11-5, 11-2 in 16 minutes 25 seconds. Kuai has dropped 24 points in six games in Frankfurt. She plays Hayata at midday UK time on Saturday.
Lin ends Zhou's run
Taiwan's Lin Yun-Ju, the fifth seed, won the first seven points against China's Zhou Qihao and beat him 11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7. Lin led 10-5 in the fourth game and Zhou saved two match points. It was Lin's third win in three meetings with Zhou, who beat Félix Lebrun in Montpellier and reached a career-high 12th in the world.
Zhou's defeat leaves Wen Ruibo, who beat Wang Chuqin on Thursday, as the only Chinese man in the draw. Lin and Wen meet in the quarter-finals.
The Harimotos go through
Miwa Harimoto, the women's second seed, lost the first game 11-6 to South Korea's Joo Cheonhui and then won three in a row, 11-3, 11-7, 11-5. She plays China's Chen Xingtong, who beat Brazil's Bruna Takahashi 11-5, 11-4, 11-3 in 18 minutes.
Tomokazu Harimoto, the men's second seed, beat South Korea's Lim Jonghoon 11-6, 8-11, 11-4, 11-4 and meets Qiu, last year's runner-up. Shunsuke Togami, 25, beat South Korea's Oh Junsung 11-8, 3-11, 11-5, 4-11, 11-5 in 43 minutes 14 seconds, with the two players swapping games until Togami pulled away in the fifth.
Results in full
- Miwa Harimoto (JPN) bt Joo Cheonhui (KOR) 6-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-5
- Lin Yun-Ju (TPE) bt Zhou Qihao (CHN) 11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7
- Chen Xingtong (CHN) bt Bruna Takahashi (BRA) 11-5, 11-4, 11-3
- Tomokazu Harimoto (JPN) bt Lim Jonghoon (KOR) 11-6, 8-11, 11-4, 11-4
- Hina Hayata (JPN) bt Annett Kaufmann (GER) 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5
- Wim Verdonschot (GER) bt Hugo Calderano (BRA) 11-5, 11-9, 7-11, 13-11
- Sabine Winter (GER) bt Han Ying (GER) 11-8, 11-7, 11-3
- Shunsuke Togami (JPN) bt Oh Junsung (KOR) 11-8, 3-11, 11-5, 4-11, 11-5
- Kuai Man (CHN) bt Nina Mittelham (GER) 11-4, 11-5, 11-2
- Patrick Franziska (GER) bt Benedikt Duda (GER) 8-11, 13-15, 11-7, 15-13, 12-10
- Chen Yi (CHN) bt Margaryta Pesotska (UKR) 3-11, 11-4, 11-6, 6-11, 11-2
Day five: the quarter-finals
The quarter-finals are the best of seven games. Hayata plays Kuai at midday UK time, followed by Lin against Wen at 12.45pm, Chen Xingtong against Miwa Harimoto at 1.30pm and Qiu against Tomokazu Harimoto at 2.15pm.
The evening session starts at 5.30pm with Hana Goda against Satsuki Odo, then Togami against Verdonschot at 6.15pm, Winter against Chen Yi at 7pm and Matsushima against Franziska at 7.45pm. Times are approximate. The draw and live scores are on Eleven's WTT Champions Frankfurt page, and the order of play was in our day four preview, after the day three review.
