WTT Finals Hong Kong 2025, 12/10-14

[Tembel]

Helix sales and promotions gonna go crazy with how Truls has been performing since he switch to it

I never really liked Stiga rubbers before, but now with Helix I am really satisfied. Lots of spin.

 

[Walalang]

LYJ was doing so good until he lost that deuce game. After that, he looked really lost and didn't even go past 5 points

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

wow! get out of SYS way

 

[NextLevel]

wow! get out of SYS way

Sometimes, you wonder whether it is worth even trying when you lose like that...

 

[TableTennisDaily]

Reactions like a cat! 🙀🏓

Highlights:

 

[NextLevel]

TTR:

 

[zeio]

How does Hayata intend to compete for LA28 like this?

The same old Hayata has never left.

早田ひな「展開を変えられなかった」世界4位の蒯曼に屈し2年連続の初戦敗退【卓球 WTTファイナルズ香港】
https://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/tabletennis/news/2025/12/040941.html

「展開を変えられず、頭がついていかなかった」と振り返るように、相手の得意パターンを崩せずに苦しい内容に。

「技術が足りないと戦術を仕組むことも難しいと実感した。左利き対策は越えないといけない壁」と、課題を明確に受け止めた。

さらに、連戦による睡眠不足から風邪を引き、直前に左足の痛みも抱えていたと告白。

「コンディションは良くなかったが、それも含めて実力。もっとできることはあった」と自らを戒めた。

来季に向けては、「まずは休み、また練習する時間を確保したい。積み上げて全日本に向かう」と気持ちを切り替えた早田。

早田ひな この一年を振り返り涙「苦しかった。自分が強くなるための時期だと思う」【卓球 WTTファイナルズ香港】
https://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/tabletennis/news/2025/12/040942.html

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...-be-revamped-for-paris-2024.24977/post-473648

To put the topic of Hayata's weakness against pips and lefties as well as her dumbness to rest, here are the match reports by Nittaku for the Inter-High tournament from 2016.

 

[backspacer]

and he had one unused challenge that he did not utilise as well. I mean if we want to talk about illegal serves, Hugo had alot of short forehand serves which I am sure is also borderline hidden. Felix lost 4-5 points directly from those similar serves. Maybe the solution for this is not TTR but really a full revamp of service rules. I am guessing, but its just me, like in many other games like Soccer, some rules are not made clear so that there will be talking points. It is just a way to drum up news and counterpoints in games for the next few days.

As someone who cares about service rules and a new umpire I would call Hugo's serve because the ball travels quite a bit to the back where it's easier to generate spin, but with TTR he would probably get away due to the angle rule and his high toss. Not sure about hiding since the viewer angle is too bad to judge it, but I think he got called for hiding at some big event this year. Felix's head might also hide the contact. Not sure if anyone has used TTR on him for that this year.

 

[backspacer]

I don't think they will use it for illegal services very often. With a few exceptions, they prefer to protect each other. Doing so would make them unpopular with the other players, and that is something they want to avoid. That’s not good for social media.

Patrick Franziska, Ricardo Walther and Tomo haven't shied away from it iirc. Wouldn't surprise me if some players just forget about it since it's only available infrequently.

 

[golden_son]

TTR:

Miu Nagasaki is some kind of saint for being able to laugh this off. Down three games and three points in g4 and your opponent has the nerve to call TTR on your serve for the toss angle? I'd be furious even as a supporter of serve enforcement. That just feels like bad sportsmanship. It's one thing if an umpire calls it, or if you're truly claiming a hidden serve, but is toss angle really critical enough to call on your opponent at that stage of the match?

 

[SFF_lib]

The same old Hayata has never left.

早田ひな「展開を変えられなかった」世界4位の蒯曼に屈し2年連続の初戦敗退【卓球 WTTファイナルズ香港】
https://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/tabletennis/news/2025/12/040941.html


早田ひな この一年を振り返り涙「苦しかった。自分が強くなるための時期だと思う」【卓球 WTTファイナルズ香港】
https://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/tabletennis/news/2025/12/040942.html

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...-be-revamped-for-paris-2024.24977/post-473648

Chinese fans love cute Japanese athlets - Hayata, Ishikawa, Fukuhara.

But cute --> not enough drive to win

 

[NextLevel]

Miu Nagasaki is some kind of saint for being able to laugh this off. Down three games and three points in g4 and your opponent has the nerve to call TTR on your serve for the toss angle? I'd be furious even as a supporter of serve enforcement. That just feels like bad sportsmanship. It's one thing if an umpire calls it, or if you're truly claiming a hidden serve, but is toss angle really critical enough to call on your opponent at that stage of the match?

Interesting take. Allow me to propose a different story, along the lines of what Bobrow pointed out but didn't quite get to the bottom of. And you can find my opinion on what backward tosses do to serve quality within it.

Miyu Nagasaki has a very illegal backwards toss on a variety of serve actions. It was probably noted by the CNT as something to watch out for. Initially, Miu wasn't largely doing it so it was kept away. Maybe she had been tipped off that the CNT was going to challenge it.

Now she was down 0-3 in games and 0-3 in points, getting no easy points on serve and unable to hang with the best player in the world. Her last chance was to introduce her usual weapon, the backward toss that enables hiding and tossing the ball into the racket which gives the ball heavier spin on the contact action. So her coach tells her to try it and see whether it gets called by anyone. And during the timeout, SYS is reminded that the serve has been clean so far but this is probably her opponent's last chance to make it a match. So when they come out, rather than battle through hidden serves or tosses that are hard to read, SYS just nips it in the bud to keep her victory uncomplicated. Because all it takes is momentum for an easy victory to become complicated.

 

[FIXPOINT]

WTT Finals Hong Kong 2025 WS QF

WTT Finals Hong Kong 2025 MS QF

 

[FIXPOINT]

Scheduled Matches:
All times are local time.
Live streaming: https://www.youtube.com/wttglobal

Sat, 13th Dec 2025
13:30 T1 XD SF LIN(CHN)/KUAI(CHN) - LIM(KOR)/SHIN(KOR)
14:05 T1 XD SF WANG(CHN)/SUN(CHN) - MATSUSHIMA(JPN)/HARIMOTO(JPN)
14:40 T1 MS QF Tomokazu HARIMOTO(JPN) - Felix LEBRUN(FRA)
15:25 T1 MS QF XIANG Peng(CHN) - LIN Shidong(CHN)
19:30 T1 WS SF SUN Yingsha(CHN) - KUAI Man(CHN)
20:15 T1 WS SF CHEN Yi(CHN) - WANG Manyu(CHN)
21:00 T1 XD F -

 

[rpb23]

LYJ was doing so good until he lost that deuce game. After that, he looked really lost and didn't even go past 5 points

That might be the difference between him and Tomo. When LYJ is down in the trench, he needs more fighting spirit to get himself out the dip and Tomo has plenty.

Technique wise, LYJ has more sound game than Tomo. So does Sora. But Tomo is a tough fighter, never yields to anyone.

 

[rpb23]

Interesting take. Allow me to propose a different story, along the lines of what Bobrow pointed out but didn't quite get to the bottom of. And you can find my opinion on what backward tosses do to serve quality within it.

Miyu Nagasaki has a very illegal backwards toss on a variety of serve actions. It was probably noted by the CNT as something to watch out for. Initially, Miu wasn't largely doing it so it was kept away. Maybe she had been tipped off that the CNT was going to challenge it.

Now she was down 0-3 in games and 0-3 in points, getting no easy points on serve and unable to hang with the best player in the world. Her last chance was to introduce her usual weapon, the backward toss that enables hiding and tossing the ball into the racket which gives the ball heavier spin on the contact action. So her coach tells her to try it and see whether it gets called by anyone. And during the timeout, SYS is reminded that the serve has been clean so far but this is probably her opponent's last chance to make it a match. So when they come out, rather than battle through hidden serves or tosses that are hard to read, SYS just nips it in the bud to keep her victory uncomplicated. Because all it takes is momentum for an easy victory to become complicated.

To be frank, when you are facing the most dominant female player and you are down 0:3 and trailing big in the 4th, some questionable serves won't change the outcome, not even making things complicated.
By the way two players all laughing it out on the call, it's more like a light-hearted gamesmanship in play.

 

[rpb23]

WTT Finals Hong Kong 2025 WS QF
View attachment 39486
WTT Finals Hong Kong 2025 MS QF
View attachment 39487​

On women's side, in all likelihood, we'll see familiar final between SYS and WMY. It's reported that WMY had some injury earlier, SYS's revenge may be in play.
On men's side, things are a lot more interesting. Truls is in great form and WCQ is not. This probably is the best chance for Truls to knock WCQ out in a major WTT event.
If history holds, Felix and LSD will face off. A huge challenge but also an opportunity for LSD to show if he has figured out how to deal with a speed monster in Felix.

 

[joshmak10]

On women's side, in all likelihood, we'll see familiar final between SYS and WMY. It's reported that WMY had some injury earlier, SYS's revenge may be in play.
On men's side, things are a lot more interesting. Truls is in great form and WCQ is not. This probably is the best chance for Truls to knock WCQ out in a major WTT event.
If history holds, Felix and LSD will face off. A huge challenge but also an opportunity for LSD to show if he has figured out how to deal with a speed monster in Felix.

I can’t see Tomo beating felix, but I can see XP beating LSD.

 

[Walalang]

That might be the difference between him and Tomo. When LYJ is down in the trench, he needs more fighting spirit to get himself out the dip and Tomo has plenty.

Technique wise, LYJ has more sound game than Tomo. So does Sora. But Tomo is a tough fighter, never yields to anyone.

Yeah, Harimoto is one hell of a fighter and actually has great mental strength. The thing is that LYJ in great form could actually beat most top players if not for this. In the 5th game, he just looked completely surrendered. Same with Sora but I'd give an exception for him as he's just 18 and lacks experience

 

[NextLevel]

That might be the difference between him and Tomo. When LYJ is down in the trench, he needs more fighting spirit to get himself out the dip and Tomo has plenty.

Technique wise, LYJ has more sound game than Tomo. So does Sora. But Tomo is a tough fighter, never yields to anyone.

He yielded pretty badly at the XTWC to Felix; hoping we see a better match here.

Hate to be an EJ sounding guy but I think LYJ has guile but his skillset lacks gears and variation. If he isn't attacking, he doesn't have a plan B.