Hong Kong welcomed the top performers on the professional circuit in 2025. The players’ list featured the reigning World champion and a 3-time champion of this competition – Wang Chuqin.

The 25-year-old Chinese international has won a medal at every WTT Cup Finals since 2021. The 2025 edition was no exception. However, the injury ended his run in the 1/4 final, where Wang Chuqin was supposed to meet his Olympic nemesis, Truls Möregårdh.

While the individual match-ups brought plenty of excitement, there were no major upsets in Hong Kong. Three out of four top-ranked players made it to the semi-final stage. The only one who was knocked out in the early round was Hugo Calderano. All the other favourites found their way into the next round.

The road to the final for Truls Möregårdh and Tomokazu Harimoto was very different. The Swedish star got a relatively easy 4-1 win in the Round of 16 against the Dane – Anders Lind, who had a debut at this tournament. In the 1/4 final, he got another solid win against Lin Yun-Ju (4-2).

The fans were eager to see the Swede take on the reigning World champion, Wang Chuqin. Unfortunately, the leader of Team China was forced to withdraw from the competition due to injury. By his own words, “the back problem was an issue”, and after a warm-up us session, the decision about withdrawal was made. Such a cautious approach is understandable. The finals of the 2025 Chinese Super League are coming up, and the local fans will definitely expect Wang Chuqin to be ready to play.

TREDING ARTICLE

Harimoto had a much more exhausting path to the final. He had to put in some serious effort to get past the Frenchman, Simon Gauzy, in the Round of 16. In the 1/4 final, there was another Japan vs. France duel coming up.

Felix Lebrun fought well and took the game to the decisive seventh set. It turned out to be a nerve-wrecking for both players. Eventually, Harimoto won the decider 11-9 and advanced to the next round. And it was again a fine spectacle for the fans at the arena. Harimoto faced Lin Shidong in another exhausting 7-set showdown. You can only admire the physical and mental state of Team Japan’s leader in this tournament. Whenever there was a tough challenge ahead, Harimoto succeeded. Lin Shidong had some spectacular plays, but he failed to win the points in the decisive moments.

Against Möregårdh, Harimoto got an early lead, and he kept himself ahead of the Swedish international up until the decisive sixth set, when the Japanese concluded the tournament with an 11-2 win.

Harimoto won his first World Tour Finals title back in 2018, when he was just 15 years old. Interestingly, now Harimoto is just 22 years old, but he’s already a seasoned veteran at such a young age. His victory in this tournament is well-deserved, and it will definitely lighten his mood after the incident he faced at the 2025 Mixed Team World Cup.

HARIMOTO’S WAY TO THE FINAL

ROUND OF 16
4-2 vs. Simon Gauzy (5-11, 11-5, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8, 11-7)
1/4 FINAL
4-3 vs. Felix Lebrun (12-14, 11-8, 12-10, 11-3, 8-11, 7-11, 11-9)
1/2 FINAL
4-3 vs. Lin Shidong (12-10, 11-4, 10-12, 10-12, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8)
FINAL
4-2 vs. Truls Möregårdh (11-8, 5-11, 11-8, 10-12, 14-12, 11-2)

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