by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
En route to the penultimate round, in the latter stages Philipp Floritz had beaten Cazuo Matsumoto, the no.6 seed and like Hugo Calderano from Brazil (11-9, 11-6, 4-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-1), before ending the hopes of Germany’s Patrick Baum, the no.2 seed (11-9, 11-4, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7).
A semi-final place booked, he came within a whisker of making it three surprise wins in a row. He won the first two games of the semi-final duel, before Amalraj Anthony mounted a recovery to eventually emerge successful by the very minimal two point margin in the decider (6-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9).
Hard fought for Amalraj Anthony but victory; awaiting in the final is Hugo Calderano, the top seed; he beat compatriot, Gustavo Tsuboi, the no.5 seed, to reserve his place in the final. Impressively, the 20 year old, who hails from Rio de Janeiro, emerged successful in five games (11-3, 11-6, 6-11, 11-6, 11-8).
The win means that Hugo Calderano maintains his ascendancy over Gustavo Tsuboi; they have now met on three occasions in World ranking events, Hugo Calderano has won each time.
In Men’s Singles finals on each occasion, Hugo Calderano emerged successful at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Brazil Open, the 2014 ITTF Latin American Cup and more recently in the gold medal contest at the 2015 Pan American Games.
Success for Hugo Calderano against Gustavo Tsuboi; earlier in the day it had been success in partnership with his colleague.
Imposingly at the quarter-final stage of the Men’s Doubles event, the duo accounted for colleagues Eric Jouti and Cazuo Matsumoto (11-8, 11-9, 11-5); they now meet the combination of Germany’s Patrick Baum and the Slovak Republic’s Thomas Keinath in the final.
They reserved their place in the title decider courtesy of success against the Chilean pairing of Gustavo Gomez and Juan Lamadrid but they were tested; they had to recover from a two games to nil deficit before emerging successful (7-11, 2-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-7).
The finals’ schedule starts at 10.00am (local time) with the Women’s Doubles title deciding contest.
