WTT Contender Almaty 2026 Sep 1-6

[JustANoob]

Togami vs Gauzi was enjoyable, but Gauzi wasnt able to technique his way out of the pure aggression.

 

[jonol]

I wouldn't be surprised if Hirano is now fighting with the Zyre, the most inportant thing is to maintain this level.

I was wondering if she had changed equipment myself. Her backhands were looking nasty.

 

[zeio]

WS F
Hayata WR6 (1) 1-4 Hirano WR38 (-9, 9, -7, -1, -8)
G1 89 Hirano served into the net, 810, 910 net for Hayata, 911
G2 30, 32, 52 net for Hayata, 53, 63, 65, 75, 78, 88, 89, 119
After G1, Hayata backed up from the table to open up the angle. From her constant stretching over the table and wiping "gesture", something still seems to bother Hayata's playing forearm.
G3 21, 24, 34, 37, 67 TO for Hirano, 610 net for Hirano, 710, 711
G4 02, 12, 17 yellow card to Hirano for stalling, 111
G5 10, 12, 32, 33, 53, 55, 65, 69, 79 TO for Hayata, 710, 810, 811
Cornered, Hayata turned to the reverse pendulum serve in G5.
First double crown (WS/WD) for Hirano.

CNT: Hayata for LA28!

Something is definitely wrong with Hayata's left forearm (and/or palm). And she told the press it was nearly/fully healed at WTT CS Yokohama 2026...

LIVE! | T1 | Day 4 | WTT Contender Almaty 2026 | Finals
After G1
https://youtu.be/0PBuVb9RxpA?t=10470
After G2
https://youtu.be/0PBuVb9RxpA?t=11074
During Hirano's TO in G3
https://youtu.be/0PBuVb9RxpA?t=11500
After G3
https://youtu.be/0PBuVb9RxpA?t=11689
After G4
https://youtu.be/0PBuVb9RxpA?t=12035
During Hayata's TO in G5
https://youtu.be/0PBuVb9RxpA?t=12479

 

[FIXPOINT]

WTT Contender Almaty 2026 WS Final

WTT Contender Almaty 2026 MS Final

WTT Contender Almaty 2026 WD Final

WTT Contender Almaty 2026 MD Final

WTT Contender Almaty 2026 XD Final

 

[Janard]

Something is definitely wrong with Hayata's left forearm (and/or palm). And she told the press it was nearly/fully healed at WTT CS Yokohama 2026...

LIVE! | T1 | Day 4 | WTT Contender Almaty 2026 | Finals
After G1
https://youtu.be/0PBuVb9RxpA?t=10470
After G2
https://youtu.be/0PBuVb9RxpA?t=11074
During Hirano's TO in G3
https://youtu.be/0PBuVb9RxpA?t=11500
After G3
https://youtu.be/0PBuVb9RxpA?t=11689
After G4
https://youtu.be/0PBuVb9RxpA?t=12035
During Hayata's TO in G5
https://youtu.be/0PBuVb9RxpA?t=12479

Honestly I don't even know why Hayata is playing Contender level events. Star Contender and upwards should give her more time to balance tournaments, recovery and training. She is just stretching herself thin at this rate? I mean I get it is hard to clinch gold at Champions/Smash events and everyone wants to remember the feeling of being top of podium.

 

[zeio]

Honestly I don't even know why Hayata is playing Contender level events. Star Contender and upwards should give her more time to balance tournaments, recovery and training. She is just stretching herself thin at this rate? I mean I get it is hard to clinch gold at Champions/Smash events and everyone wants to remember the feeling of being top of podium.

That's the price to pay when one wants everything.

She wanted the WS spot of Aichi-Nagoya 2026 and through "transgression" got it at the cost of team morale/spirit/unity yet the WR points top out at 500 and the last time she got 350 due to lazy governance on CNT's part, and so 175 is more realistic this time but insufficient to keep her locked in the 2nd place once her points from WTT SCT London 2025 and WTT CS Frankfurt 2025 expire in the next 2 months, and one good draw for Odo can flip the script.

 

[NextLevel]

Hirao beat 3 lefties in a row or something like that if memory serves me right.

Honestly I don't even know why Hayata is playing Contender level events. Star Contender and upwards should give her more time to balance tournaments, recovery and training. She is just stretching herself thin at this rate? I mean I get it is hard to clinch gold at Champions/Smash events and everyone wants to remember the feeling of being top of podium.

I think it is hard to to fit every athletes temperament and approach to competition into one box. Clearly everything qe know about Hayata points to her feeling comfortable.only when she is playing a volume that probably is not ideal for mlst people maybe even herself but she will probably feel unable to perform without that volume so we are at a point where only something really catastrophic will force her to revisit the issue, it might be way too late already.

The other problem is that given that Hayata is no longer the Japanese #1 and also unable to beat the Chinese, she will risk a lot if she sticks only to the top tier events. This event might have been a good choice given the Japanese continent and she might as well have won it all if she did not face a resurgent Hirano. We will learn more as we see her calendar for the rest of the year.

 

[Kopp]

I wouldn't be surprised if Hirano is now fighting with the Zyre, the most inportant thing is to maintain this level.

Psychically, that's the strongest version of her so far. Her body looks very sturdy and she moved so quick.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

The old hurricane; the version that defeated Ding Ning is back!

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

Honestly I don't even know why Hayata is playing Contender level events. Star Contender and upwards should give her more time to balance tournaments, recovery and training. She is just stretching herself thin at this rate? I mean I get it is hard to clinch gold at Champions/Smash events and everyone wants to remember the feeling of being top of podium.

Have to agree. Even if she won the tournament, she could only get a net gain of 35 points because her current lowest top 8 results is 365 pts. My only guess would be she's treating this as a warm up tournament(?). Her first couple of rounds at Champions Macao don't look too bad (Pesotska, then winner of Diaz vs. Hashimoto). And the Macao tournament director was nice enough to schedule her first match on Thursday.