Japan are guaranteed at least one title at WTT Champions Frankfurt on Sunday, with five of the eight semi-finalists, while Patrick Franziska and Sabine Winter carry German hopes into the last day at the Süwag Energie Arena.
The four semi-finals are on the one table from 10am UK time, best of seven games, and the finals follow at 4.30pm (women) and 5.30pm (men). Hina Hayata, the defending champion, meets Miwa Harimoto in a rematch of last year's final, and Tomokazu Harimoto plays Lin Yun-Ju for the second time in a Champions semi-final this year.
The big matches
Hina Hayata v Miwa Harimoto (10am UK). Hayata, 26 and the world No 6, beat Harimoto 4-3 in last year's Frankfurt final, her first WTT Champions title. Harimoto, 18, is ranked third and is the second seed. Hayata reached the last four by beating Kuai Man in seven games on Saturday, ending a run of three defeats against the world No 4, and Harimoto came through a six-game match with Chen Xingtong. The pair played doubles together for about a year, so neither will surprise the other.
Satsuki Odo v Sabine Winter (10.45am UK). Odo, 22 and the world No 11, has won all three of their previous meetings, according to TV Tokyo. She won WTT Champions Montpellier in 2024 and came from 2-1 down to beat Hana Goda in the quarter-finals. Winter, 34 and ranked 13th, is the last German woman in the draw and swept Chen Yi aside 4-0 on Saturday with her anti-spin backhand. The home crowd will be behind her.
Lin Yun-Ju v Tomokazu Harimoto (11.30am UK). Harimoto, 23, the second seed and world No 3, has won 10 of their 15 meetings, but Lin beat him in the WTT Champions Doha semi-finals in January, and China Times counts their four matches this year at two each. Lin, 25 and the fifth seed, won this event in 2023 and dropped no games against Wen Ruibo in the quarter-finals. Harimoto needed only 31 minutes to beat Dang Qiu.
Shunsuke Togami v Patrick Franziska (12.15pm UK). Franziska, 34 and the world No 15, beat the top seed and defending champion, Sora Matsushima, 12-10 in the sixth game on Saturday night. A week ago he lost the WTT Champions Montpellier final 4-3 to Jang Woojin after leading 3-1. Togami, 25 and ranked 16th, ended the run of the German wildcard Wim Verdonschot in six games.
Franziska's chance at history
No German player has won a WTT Champions title, as tischtennis.de pointed out. Franziska, from the Odenwald in Hesse, is playing a home event and has won two long matches in two nights, coming from two games down to beat Benedikt Duda on Friday before beating Matsushima.
Winter's route is just as hard. She has never beaten Odo, but her straight-games win over the Asian champion was the cleanest performance by any German this week.
Japan's day
Japan's five semi-finalists are Hayata, Miwa Harimoto, Odo, Tomokazu Harimoto and Togami, and with Hayata and Harimoto in the same semi-final, a Japanese woman is sure to reach the final. China have nobody left. Wen Ruibo, the last of their men, lost to Lin on Saturday, and Kuai Man, Chen Xingtong and Chen Yi all went out in the quarter-finals.
Order of play
- 10am: Hina Hayata (JPN) v Miwa Harimoto (JPN), women's singles semi-final
- 10.45am: Satsuki Odo (JPN) v Sabine Winter (GER), women's singles semi-final
- 11.30am: Lin Yun-Ju (TPE) v Tomokazu Harimoto (JPN), men's singles semi-final
- 12.15pm: Shunsuke Togami (JPN) v Patrick Franziska (GER), men's singles semi-final
- 4.30pm: women's singles final
- 5.30pm: men's singles final
All times are UK time and approximate: each match starts when the one before it ends.
How to watch
WTT streams every match on its YouTube channel. The draw, live scores and the stream are on Eleven's WTT Champions Frankfurt page, where each match opens point by point.
Saturday's quarter-finals are in our day five review.
