Hina Hayata retained her WTT Champions Frankfurt title and Tomokazu Harimoto won the men's event on Sunday, completing a Japanese clean sweep of the singles titles at the Süwag Energie Arena.
Hayata beat her compatriot Satsuki Odo 12-10, 11-3, 6-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6 in 52 minutes in the women's final. Harimoto then ended Patrick Franziska's run in front of a home crowd, coming from 2-1 down to win 2-11, 11-9, 11-13, 11-8, 11-4, 11-4 in 49 minutes.
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Hayata keeps her crown
Hayata, 26 and the world No 6, won her first WTT Champions title in Frankfurt a year ago, beating Miwa Harimoto 4-3 in the final. This time she was in control for most of an all-Japanese final against Odo, the world No 11, who won WTT Champions Montpellier in 2024.
The left-hander edged a tight first game 12-10 and dropped only three points in the second. Odo, 22, hit back to take the third and the fifth, but Hayata closed it out 11-6 in the sixth without needing her timeout.
Her week included three wins over top-10 players. She came from behind to beat Kuai Man, the world No 4, in seven games in the quarter-finals, ending a run of three straight defeats against her, and then beat Miwa Harimoto, the world No 3 and second seed, 4-1 in the semi-finals in a rematch of last year's final.
Harimoto turns the final around
Franziska, 34 and ranked 15th, was playing his second WTT Champions final in a week. He started the final in the form that had carried him past the world No 1, Sora Matsushima, on Saturday, taking the first game 11-2, and won a tight third game 13-11 for a 2-1 lead.
Harimoto, 23 and the world No 3, then took over. He levelled at 2-2 with an 11-8 fourth game and won the last two 11-4, 11-4. It is his fourth WTT Champions title in WTT's results, after the European Summer Series in 2022 and Yokohama in 2025 and 2026.
For Franziska it was a second final defeat in eight days. In Montpellier last Sunday he led Jang Woojin 3-1 and lost 4-3. Even so, the German No 2 beat Benedikt Duda, Matsushima and Shunsuke Togami on the way to the final in Frankfurt.
The semi-finals
Harimoto needed seven games and 63 minutes to beat Lin Yun-Ju 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8. Lin came back from two games down and led 7-6 in the decider before Harimoto won the last points. The two have now met five times this year.
Franziska beat Togami 11-7, 8-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9 to reach the final. In the women's draw, Odo ended Sabine Winter's run 6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-8, 12-10, three of the games she won going to two points or fewer. Winter, 34 and ranked 13th, had swept Chen Yi 4-0 in the quarter-finals.
What it means
Japan finish the week with both titles, both women's finalists and five of the eight semi-finalists. China had no player in the last four of either draw.
Lin's semi-final is enough to lift him from sixth to fifth in the world rankings, equalling his career high, according to China Times.
Results in full:
- Women's final: Hina Hayata (JPN) bt Satsuki Odo (JPN) 4-2 (12-10, 11-3, 6-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6)
- Men's final: Tomokazu Harimoto (JPN) bt Patrick Franziska (GER) 4-2 (2-11, 11-9, 11-13, 11-8, 11-4, 11-4)
- Women's semi-final: Hina Hayata (JPN) bt Miwa Harimoto (JPN) 4-1 (11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8)
- Women's semi-final: Satsuki Odo (JPN) bt Sabine Winter (GER) 4-1 (6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-8, 12-10)
- Men's semi-final: Tomokazu Harimoto (JPN) bt Lin Yun-Ju (TPE) 4-3 (11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8)
- Men's semi-final: Patrick Franziska (GER) bt Shunsuke Togami (JPN) 4-2 (11-7, 8-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9)
Saturday's quarter-finals are in our day five review.
