The evening of June 14th.
WTT Ljubljana
The men's singles 1/16 final of the Ballon d'Or Challenge is in full swing with Japan's
Tomohiro Harimoto and
In the unfavorable situation of 0-1 down, by virtue of tenacity and exquisite skills, three consecutive games, and finally 3-1 reversal of the French famous Alex Le Brun, successfully advanced to the round of 16.
In the first set, Le Boulogne used his strong veneer quality to take an early 11-8 lead. In the second set, Tomokazu Harimoto adjusted his strategy to tighten the score and equalized with 11-8. In the third set, Zhang was in great form and took another 11-6 to take a 2-1 lead. In the fourth set, Le Brun fought hard to catch up, but Zhang Ben scored 3 points in a row at the critical moment, and finally locked the win 11-8, realizing a stunning reversal.
Tomokazu Zhang's younger sister Miwa Zhang also showed great strength and stable form by sweeping Chinese Taipei's Li Yuzhi 3-0 in the same day's match. On the other hand, Japan's Hina Hayata also showed the overall strength of the Japanese women's team by turning back Romania's Samara 3-1 in the 1/16th final.
Also, Japan's rising star Teruko Matsushima was another highlight of the tournament as he narrowly defeated Sweden's Moregard 3-2 in the 1/16th final. German world champions Boll and Gacchini showed their strength by knocking out Korean stars Lee Sang-soo and Jang U-jin 3-0 and 3-1 respectively.
In the completed matches, a total of 4 players from the Japanese team advanced to the singles round of 16, making them the big winners of the tournament. As the tournament progresses, I believe there will be more exciting matchups and dark horses.
