Joo is quite skinny compared to Sun. How did she get 3 sets? Spectacular!
Problem is, Aruna has no bh and Hugo plays a really really fast table tennis.
Yep you're right.... You need to be good at both wings, can't be unbalanced these days...
1 and 2 get put in opposite halves of the draw as do 2 and 4 but 1 can be in the same half as 3 or 4 but who gets seeded in the same half as 1 can't be in the same half as 2. So 1 and 3 is possible (so that 2 and 4 are in the other half).
Harimoto doesn't have the shot quality of Calderano, those opening loops were absolutely loaded and too hard to counterloop, and Hugo was exploiting the wide FH corner of Aruna real bad unlike Harimoto.
Darko can beat Hugo, that is a very different matchup that can flip depending on how fit Darko is. Darko has a very underrated forehand, it is a bit weird to hear that it hs supposedly bad. He is especially strong on the countertopspin and I think it is to put too much stock in one match or matchup to think that Darko is not a complete player.
It is just ther matchup. While Aruna won a game in Singapore in 2021 when they played last, you could see that since Aruna has no offense over the table, Hugo almost always knows he will get thr first opening in the short game. I honestly think Aruna was very satisfied with how far he got. Aruna really has to develop over the table offense to compete with someone like Hugo. Hugo's problem is that his strokes often are so large he cannot deal with rapid and spinny strikes at the table especially on backhand. It will be good to see whether he can fix this vs Ma Long. The main reason he Nets in trouble vs Chinesenis that they play for the first attack better and then force Hugo off the table.
