{"id":81997,"date":"2025-09-30T16:00:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T08:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanweisport.com\/?p=81997"},"modified":"2025-09-30T16:03:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T08:03:55","slug":"wtt-china-grand-slam-huge-upset-tomokazu-harimoto-eliminated-in-the-first-round-falls-in-a-hard-fought-battle-to-20-year-old-chinese-table-tennis-team-youngster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanweisport.com\/en\/wtt-china-grand-slam-huge-upset-tomokazu-harimoto-eliminated-in-the-first-round-falls-in-a-hard-fought-battle-to-20-year-old-chinese-table-tennis-team-youngster\/","title":{"rendered":"WTT China Grand Slam Huge Upset! Tomokazu Harimoto Eliminated in the First Round, Falls in a Hard-Fought Battle to 20-Year-Old Chinese Table Tennis Team Youngster"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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On the evening of September 29 Beijing time, the WTT China Grand Slam continued. World No. 4, Japanese star Tomokazu Harimoto<\/strong>, suffered a shocking first-round exit, eliminated by 20-year-old Chen Junsong<\/a><\/strong>, ranked only No. 113 in the world, who came back from behind to win 3\u20132. As a result, Harimoto was stopped in the Round of 64 in men\u2019s singles, and also became the highest-ranked player to be knocked out of the tournament so far. The detailed match report is as follows.<\/p>

\u3010Match Highlights\u3011<\/h3>

Chen Junsong, born in 2005, is currently ranked No. 113 in the world. He is one of the rare short-pips<\/strong> style players in the current Chinese men\u2019s national team. Tomokazu Harimoto, born in 2003, is ranked No. 4 in the latest world rankings and has defeated many of the Chinese national team\u2019s main players, including Zhang Jike, Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan, and Lin Shidong.<\/p>

In this tournament, Chen Junsong made it through three rounds of qualification matches to successfully enter the main draw. Unexpectedly, in the very first round he drew Harimoto as his opponent. Although there was a huge gap between their achievements and rankings, Chen\u2019s playing style carries a rare element of unpredictability, giving him the possibility of catching opponents off guard\u2014and in the end, he did just that.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u3010Match Process\u3011<\/h3>

At the start of the match, Chen Junsong managed to disrupt Harimoto\u2019s rhythm in the first half of the opening game. However, from the middle stage onward, Harimoto began to unleash the threat of his powerful loop attacks. The young Chinese player was unable to hold on and eventually lost 8\u201311.<\/p>

In the second game, Chen still did not play very smoothly. Falling behind throughout and facing game points at 7\u201310, he suddenly raised his level, narrowing the gap to 9\u201310 and forcing Japan to call a timeout. After the break, Chen kept up the pressure, breaking through Harimoto\u2019s defenses, and ultimately turned the game around 12\u201310, bringing the match back to level terms.<\/p>

In the third game, Harimoto clearly had not shaken off the shadow of being reversed in the previous game. He quickly found himself crushed 1\u20136 under Chen\u2019s fierce attack. However, with a lead in hand, Chen began committing mistakes and allowed Harimoto to close in to 6\u20137, forcing him to call a timeout for adjustments. Fortunately, he steadied himself afterward, holding two game points at 10\u20137 and finally sealing it 11\u20138. With this, Harimoto was pushed to the brink of elimination.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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