Qatar's Aya Mohamed (left) and Mohamed Abdelwahhab in action during their quarter-final yesterday.
Doha: Qualifier Ganghyeon Park shocked World No.8 Patrick Franziska in a day of upsets at the WTT Star Contender Doha 2025, while Japan’s World No.3 Harimoto Tomokazu lived up to his favourites tag with a commanding win to advance to the Round of 16 yesterday.
Franziska, seeded third in the Doha event this time, put up a valiant effort against the South Korean Park, ranked 344th, but the latter staged a brilliant comeback from two games down to secure the memorable 3-2 win (9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8) over the fancied opponent.
Park will now face Frenchman Thibault Poret (World No. 69), who secured a 3-2 (11-6, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8) victory over South Korean Lim Jonghoon (World No. 33) in another Round of 32 thriller. Tomokazu beat Germany’s Ricardo Walther with scores of 11-9, 11-2, 11-9 to book a meeting with compatriot Maharu Yoshimura, who dispatched Australian 15th seed Fin Luu in straight games (11-4, 11-4, 11-8).
In other notable results, second seed Dang Qiu of Germany made light work of China’s Chen Yuanyu, winning 3-1 with a (10-12, 12-10, 11-2, 11-8). Qiu will face Chinese qualifier Huang Youzheng who knocked out Indian veteran Sharath Achanta, ranked 38th in the world, in straight games (11-7, 11-8, 11-6).
Milosz Redzimski of Poland also made it to the last 16, defeating No.9 seed Oh Junsung of South Korea 3-0 (15-13, 11-4, 12-10), while Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting delivered a strong performance to defeat sixth seed Cho Daeseong of South Korea 3-2 (11-5, 11-4, 2-11, 7-11, 11-8 ) in a tense match to enter the next stage.
Nigerian veteran Aruna Quadri, seeded fifth, also advanced with a 3-1 win over Englishman Liam Pitchford (10-12, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9).
Quadri, a regular contestant at Doha events, said he enjoys returning to Qatar.
“I am not a stranger to Qatar. I have always made it a point to participate in international tournaments here. Playing professionally in the Qatari league and the Amir Cup has made me feel at home in this country,” the 36-year-old ranked 21st in the world, said.
In the women’s singles, top seed Hina Hayata of Japan advanced to the last 16 with a dominant 3-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-7) win over compatriot Sakura Yokoi, but second-seeded Japanese Miwa Harimoto – ranked sixth in the world – fell to Thailand’s Orawan Paranang in a five-set battle (7-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-4, 11-7).
The only Qatari players in action yesterday at the Lusail Sports Hall, Mohamed Abdelwahhab and Aya Mohamed saw their historic mixed doubles run come to an end in the quarter-finals. The Qatari pair, who became the first to reach the last 16 stage of this level, lost 0-3 (5-11, 2-11, 11-13) to South Korea’s Cho Daeseong and Shin Yubin, seeded third.
