Sun Yingsha and Jang Woojin won the singles titles at WTT Champions Montpellier on Sunday. Sun beat her China teammate Kuai Man 8-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-9, 11-6, and Jang came from 3-1 down to beat Germany's Patrick Franziska 3-11, 11-7, 7-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-8.
Both champions had to come through deciding games to reach the final. Sun beat the defending champion, Wang Yidi, 11-2 in the seventh game of their semi-final after letting a 3-0 lead slip, and Jang beat Hugo Calderano 14-12 in the seventh in the longest match of the day.
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Jang's comeback
Franziska, the 17th seed, started the men's final as if he would take the title in straight games. He won the first game 11-3, and after Jang levelled at 11-7 he took the third 11-7 and the fourth 11-9 to lead 3-1, one game from the title at the age of 34.
Jang, 31, the world No 10 and ninth seed, did not lose another game. He won the fifth 11-9, the sixth 11-8 and the seventh 11-8, and the match finished after 64 minutes.
It was the fourth time in the week that Jang had won a match in the final game. He came from two games down to beat France's Flavien Coton in the first round, beat Taiwan's Lin Yun-Ju, the world No 6, 12-10 in the fifth game of their last-16 match after trailing 10-7, and beat Calderano 14-12 in the seventh on Sunday morning. In between he beat China's Liang Jingkun 4-1 in the quarter-finals.
Franziska's run ends one game short
Franziska, ranked 18th in the world, reached the final through three deciding games of his own. He beat Alexis Lebrun, the seventh seed, from two games down in the first round, beat China's Zhou Qihao 12-10 in the seventh game of their quarter-final and then beat Truls Moregard, last year's champion and the only one of the top four men's seeds to reach the semi-finals, 11-5, 9-11, 12-10, 6-11, 12-10, 10-12, 11-6.
Moregard, the world No 4, levelled that semi-final by winning the sixth game 12-10 and led 5-1 in the seventh, but Franziska won 10 of the last 11 points. The German's only match of the week without a deciding game was a 3-1 last-16 win over Sweden's Elias Ranefur.
Sun's title after two long matches
Sun, the world No 2 and second seed, who turns 26 on Wednesday, lost the first game of the women's final 11-8 to Kuai, the fifth seed. She then won 44 of the next 69 points. The third game went 11-3 and the fourth 11-9. The final lasted 38 minutes 52 seconds, the shortest of Sun's three matches over the last two days.
The previous two were among the longest of the tournament. Sun beat Japan's Hina Hayata 11-9 in the seventh game of their quarter-final on Saturday, a match that lasted one hour 18 minutes, the longest in Montpellier this week. In Sunday's semi-final she led Wang Yidi 3-0, after winning the first and third games on extra points, before Wang took the next three games 11-9, 11-8, 14-12. Sun then won the decider 11-2.
Kuai, 22, reached the final by beating the new Asian champion, Chen Yi, 4-2 in the other semi-final. She also beat Japan's Miwa Harimoto, the world No 3, 4-2 in the quarter-finals, after needing extra points in the deciding game to get past Wales's Anna Hursey in the first round and an 11-2 fifth game to beat Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico in the last 16.
How the top seeds fell
Neither top seed reached the last eight. In the men's draw the world No 1, Sora Matsushima, lost 3-1 to Vladimir Sidorenko in the last 16 on Thursday, and the world No 2, Félix Lebrun, lost 7-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 to Zhou Qihao a day later. Tomokazu Harimoto, the third seed, had already gone out to Simon Gauzy in the first round.
In the women's draw the top seed, Wang Manyu, lost 13-11, 11-8, 11-9 to Chen Yi in an all-Chinese last-16 match. In Saturday's quarter-finals Chen Yi beat Japan's Hitomi Sato 4-0 and Wang Yidi beat Chen Xingtong 12-10 in the seventh game, while Calderano beat Sidorenko 4-2 and Moregard beat Lin Shidong 11-8 in the seventh.
Results in full
Finals and semi-finals, Sunday 1 November:
- Women's final: Sun Yingsha (CHN) bt Kuai Man (CHN) 8-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-9, 11-6
- Men's final: Jang Woojin (KOR) bt Patrick Franziska (GER) 3-11, 11-7, 7-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-8
- Women's semi-final: Kuai Man (CHN) bt Chen Yi (CHN) 13-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-9
- Women's semi-final: Sun Yingsha (CHN) bt Wang Yidi (CHN) 13-11, 11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 8-11, 12-14, 11-2
- Men's semi-final: Jang Woojin (KOR) bt Hugo Calderano (BRA) 11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 14-12, 9-11, 14-12
- Men's semi-final: Patrick Franziska (GER) bt Truls Moregard (SWE) 11-5, 9-11, 12-10, 6-11, 12-10, 10-12, 11-6
Quarter-finals, Saturday 31 October:
- Wang Yidi (CHN) bt Chen Xingtong (CHN) 11-6, 7-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-4, 12-14, 12-10
- Sun Yingsha (CHN) bt Hina Hayata (JPN) 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-13, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9
- Kuai Man (CHN) bt Miwa Harimoto (JPN) 9-11, 11-8, 11-2, 6-11, 11-9, 11-6
- Chen Yi (CHN) bt Hitomi Sato (JPN) 12-10, 11-5, 11-6, 11-4
- Hugo Calderano (BRA) bt Vladimir Sidorenko (RUS) 5-11, 11-4, 11-4, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9
- Jang Woojin (KOR) bt Liang Jingkun (CHN) 11-6, 11-13, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8
- Truls Moregard (SWE) bt Lin Shidong (CHN) 1-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 11-8
- Patrick Franziska (GER) bt Zhou Qihao (CHN) 13-15, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 12-10
Next: WTT Champions Frankfurt
WTT Champions Frankfurt starts on Tuesday at 11am UK time, with the first round running until Thursday. Jang plays Germany's Benedikt Duda, and Franziska meets China's Xiang Peng in front of a home crowd. In the women's draw Chen Yi plays the German wildcard Josi Neumann and Wang Yidi faces Germany's Han Ying.
