On the evening of September 29 Beijing time, the WTT China Grand Slam continued. World No. 4, Japanese star Tomokazu Harimoto, suffered a shocking first-round exit, eliminated by 20-year-old Chen Junsong, ranked only No. 113 in the world, who came back from behind to win 3–2. As a result, Harimoto was stopped in the Round of 64 in men’s singles, and also became the highest-ranked player to be knocked out of the tournament so far. The detailed match report is as follows.
【Match Highlights】
Chen Junsong, born in 2005, is currently ranked No. 113 in the world. He is one of the rare short-pips style players in the current Chinese men’s 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’s main players, including Zhang Jike, Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan, and Lin Shidong.
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’s playing style carries a rare element of unpredictability, giving him the possibility of catching opponents off guard—and in the end, he did just that.
【Match Process】
At the start of the match, Chen Junsong managed to disrupt Harimoto’s 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 8–11.
In the second game, Chen still did not play very smoothly. Falling behind throughout and facing game points at 7–10, he suddenly raised his level, narrowing the gap to 9–10 and forcing Japan to call a timeout. After the break, Chen kept up the pressure, breaking through Harimoto’s defenses, and ultimately turned the game around 12–10, bringing the match back to level terms.
In the third game, Harimoto clearly had not shaken off the shadow of being reversed in the previous game. He quickly found himself crushed 1–6 under Chen’s fierce attack. However, with a lead in hand, Chen began committing mistakes and allowed Harimoto to close in to 6–7, forcing him to call a timeout for adjustments. Fortunately, he steadied himself afterward, holding two game points at 10–7 and finally sealing it 11–8. With this, Harimoto was pushed to the brink of elimination.
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In the fourth game, the Japanese player launched a relentless counterattack. Although Chen fought hard to come back to 7–8 when trailing, he soon made errors at key moments and missed his chances, eventually losing 8–11. The battle thus went into a deciding game.
In the fifth game, Chen got off to a bad start, dropping the first three points, and later trailed further at 4–8 and 5–9 as Harimoto extended his lead. Facing a difficult situation, the young Chinese player refused to give up. He fought back with effective short-play control and tactical variation, leveling the score at 9–9. Harimoto still could not regain his rhythm, while Chen grew more and more confident, finally taking the game 11–9. With this victory, he handed Harimoto a shocking first-round exit, displaying an impressively resilient fighting spirit!
