Tomokazu Harimoto Photo:World Table Tennis
WTT Men’s Finals Doha 2023
WTT Men’s Finals Doha 2023 was the first big game of 2024.
The tournament will feature 16 top-ranked men’s singles players and 8 men’s doubles pairs to determine the annual champion.From Japan, Tomokazu Harimoto entered in the singles and Shunsuke Togami/Koya Uda (Meiji University) entered the doubles.
Harimoto clashed with Germany’s ace Ovcharov, the bronze medalist in men’s singles at the Tokyo Olympics, in the first match. In past matches, Harimoto has 5 wins and 4 losses and is currently on a 3-game winning streak.
In their most recent match in October 2022, they won 4-0 in straight sets.
In the first game, Harimoto took the lead with his serve to the foreground, stable hands, and skillful flick of the third ball.
However, at 8-5, Ovcharov suddenly made a powerful hit, giving up 6 consecutive points and losing the game.
Ovcharov Photo:World Table Tennis
In the second game, Harimoto used a strategy to shake up his opponent with a back straight ball. He also hits more balls up the middle and uses his signature high-speed backhand to dominate rallies.
When the score went from 9-6 to 9-8, Harimoto’s bench timed out. At the end, Harimoto took the game by carefully hitting the middle and inviting Ovcharov to make a mistake.
In the third game, Ovcharov, who kept his distance from the table and fought in the middle half, suffered a strong drive and lost 5-11, but in the fourth game, Harimoto did not become defensive and continued to attack aggressively in the front half. They took it back at 11-4.
In the fifth and final game, Harimoto took a 7-2 lead, showing his aggressiveness by attacking difficult balls on the table with fore drives.
Ovcharov started to attack again in the middle, and was caught up to 7-6, but he maintained the lead by making sure to score Chiquita on the receiving end, and won the rally in the end, winning the full game.
Tomokazu Harimoto 3-2 Ovcharov (Germany)
8-11/11-8/5-11/11-4/11-7
2024-01-03 13:07:17
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