In the first round of the men's singles of the WTT Doha Star Challenge, Japan's Yukiya Uda defeated Lee Sang-so 3-0 and took revenge. The two sides played each other last year, and Yukiya Uda was also defeated by Lee Sang-so by the same score. Yuya Uda was very pressing in the first three boards of this game, and the offensive error rate was significantly reduced. Lee Sang-so still has a lot of offensive mistakes in the first three boards because of his age, and he has always been relatively passive.
In the first game between the two sides, Yuya Uda directly expanded the score to 7-3, and Lee Sang-so made a backhand service error and fell behind 4-9. Lee Sang-so chased two points in a row at the end of the game through serving and serving to attack, and finally lost the first game 6-11. The reason why Lee Sang-so lost quickly was because he made too many mistakes, not because of how oppressive his opponent was.
Although Lee Sang-so's style of play is very explosive, the error rate is really too high. In the second game, Yuya Uda continued to serve and attack, and the return serve and forehand position expanded the score to 6-1. Lee Sang-so chased three points in a row through the tableback ball, and Yukiya Uda asked for a timeout. Lee Sang-so pulled a forehand backhand, Yuya Uda hit a backhand in the middle, and won the second game 11-6.
Yukiya Uda quickly took the lead in the first three boards after a pause in the middle and late stages of the game. Lee Sang-so is still too passive in this link, Yuya Uda is still a short board in the control of the ball in the table, Lee Sang-so did not seize this opportunity after the pause, and it is indeed not advantageous to play long balls with the opponent.
In the third game, the scores of the two sides alternated from 2-2 to 6-6. Yuya Uda sent a forehand short ball to score a 7-6 lead, Lee Sang-so called a timeout, and Yuya Uda changed the line with a forehand and led 9-7 on the return serve. Lee Sang-so chased the score to 9-10 through serve and return attack, and finally lost the third game 9-11.
Yuya Uda's advantage in receiving serves is particularly obvious, and the connection speed of the near table is super fast, and after a period of precipitation, this player has become much more stable. Lee Sang-so is indeed dying, and it is more appropriate to focus on the doubles match, and now he is no longer able to play against young players.
Another Japanese table tennis player, Hayasuke Togami, reversed Pitchford 3-1, and the two sides did not give in to each other in the first game, and Pitchford won the first game 13-11. In the second game, Hayasuke Togami strengthened the quick connection of his forehand and backhand, and won easily 11-6 to tie the score.
The third game was particularly crucial, as Hayasuke Togami attacked sideways with a forehand and a fast backhand to extend the score to 7-3. Pitchford had a quick forehand and a return pull to tie the score to 6-7. Hayasuke Togami swung a short backhand and hit a forehand in the middle to get the game point 10-6. Pitchford pulled back to recover two points in a row, and finally lost the third game 8-11 with a service error.
From this game, it can be seen that Pitchford is a little weak, and as long as Hayasuke Togami picks up the attack, he looks quite passive. At the beginning of the fourth game, the two sides continued to attack backhands to make it 3-3, Hayasuke Togami hit a forehand fly, and the backhand connection error fell behind 3-5, and the referee saw that he was grinding and showed a yellow card.
Hayasuke Togami was unaffected and overtook the score 6-5 with a forehand and backhand attack. Pitchford called a timeout, but Hayasuke Togami did not stop scoring and directly extended the score to 8-5. Pitchford received the serve and pulled back to chase the score to 7-9, and Hayasuke Togami withstood the pressure and won the fourth game 11-8 with a backhand attack.
Hayasuke Togami and Yukiya Uda both have that kind of fast attacking style, and this kind of fast and slow offensive rhythm is very much in line with the requirements of the big ball era. Hayasuke Togami has been improving, although he did not have an advantage against European players at the beginning, but now that the stability of the attack has improved, the speed of progress is getting faster and faster, and he will become a real rival of national table tennis in the future.
Hayasuke Togami is somewhat similar to Wang Chuqin in terms of ball style, and the fast attack rhythm of the first three boards is very similar to Wang Chuqin, so he is called Little Wang Chuqin. However, Wang Chuqin's serve is unique in the table tennis world, and Hayasuke Togami has not learned the essence so far. The women's singles match frequently broke out in the upset, and India's first sister Batra was defeated 2-3 by Australia's Liu Yangzi.
It was indeed a big upset, as Batra lost two games in a row while winning the first game. Although the fourth game of the game was successfully equalized at the beginning, Liu Yangzi had adapted to Batra's inverted style of play and always maintained a lead in the deciding game, winning easily 11-7. Liu Yangzi will face Wang Manyu in the next round, and the two sides have played each other in this year's Grand Slam tournament.
Another upset was Egypt's 3-2 narrow victory over South Korean chipper Seo Hyo-won, who was not good at chipping and once fell behind 1-2. The fourth game became a real turning point, Xu Xiaoyuan was bitten by the opponent and was unfortunately dragged into the tiebreaker 12-14.
After narrowly winning by two points in the fourth game, Meshev scored another crucial point in the deciding game 11-9. As a veteran, Xu Xiaoyuan has tried his best to win, but after being dragged into the tiebreaker, the concentration of the game has dropped significantly. It is not easy for this veteran to persist in playing until now, and it is also helpless to appear in the singles round.
Xu Xiaoyuan has actually participated in various competitions frequently since the second half of 2023, but his results are really average. South Korea's Lee Shiwen defeated Du Kaiqin 3-1, which can be regarded as a big upset. Du Kaiqin has a very high position in the hearts of fans, and the first two games of this game were all lost 6-11. Although he pulled back a game 11-3, he finally lost the fourth game 8-11, and there was a singles round tour, and he missed the match against Wang Manyu.