WTTC Finals 2023, Durban, 5/20-28

Japan got the worst draw possible in the women singles, but who knows; maybe it's the start of one of them going on a glorious run, after all in the crucible is where diamonds are formed.

Looking forward to the mixed doubles and the men's doubles draws, there may be some surprises in the latter stages. Korea and Sweden are dark horses. Japan will show up as usual

Japan is the only team that can stop China in the Women's doubles, not sure if they can stop two pairs though.

Kihara probably stands no chance against CM and will likely finish at R16 if she doesn't stumble earlier.

I think Ito has a better chance against CM than she does against SYS and WMY so this is arguably the 2nd best draw she could have hoped for. But that's assuming she makes it past Suthasini + Batra/Diaz, all of whom are no pushovers. IMO Ito is the most volatile of the lot and could finish anywhere between quarters/R16/R32.

Hirano has been in relatively stable form so I'd expect her to make it past Jeon Jihee, although and upset is entirely possible. Then at R16 she'll have another crack at WYD. Even if she makes it past that she'll have to contend with Hayata whom she has been losing to pretty consistently. Most likely another R16 finish for her. 

Don't really expect Nagasaki to beat Hayata and Doo Hoi Kem at R16 is a tough but beatable opponent. Most likely R32 for Nagasaki and another quarters finish for Hayata unless she can finally break her chinese losing streak.

Overall Hirano/Hayata have the best chance of medaling if they play their cards right. 

Ito finishing at her allotted seeding will be a small miracle at this point. She'll need an even bigger one to overcome CM. 

This is a decent draw for Mima Ito to get back into the Paris 2024 race.  She's favored to make a QF and could possibly even make a SF.  I kind of feel that if Hirano were to pull off another upset and beat WYD again, then that would normally be enough to win the quarter, but in this case she would possibly have to face Hayata.  And the crazy thing is that even if she beat WYD, she wouldn't get Paris points for beating a top 3 CNT player because WYD is WR#4.  Aside from Nagasaki, Hirano has the toughest road.  I was looking for Szocs to pull off another miracle, but it looks like even if that happened, it wouldn't help any of the Japanese women as they are in different quarters.  In fact, poor Bernie is stuck in the quarter that has two CNT players.

She considers SYS, WMY, CM to be at a tier above that of WYD and CXT. She says that compared to the former 3 players, the latter 2 aren't as stable against defense and "special" playing styles. She feels CM stability in the power rallies is the best among Chinese players, so you can only defeat her by breaking through with serve and receive. (which Kato believes was the reason she was able to beat her in the 2019 T2 Diamond Malaysia) 

For Japanese players, she highlights Hirano's improvements especially in defense and thinks that she has been in good form lately. She still thinks that Ito poses the greatest challenge to Chinese players amongst the Japanese players selected for WTTC but is concerned about Ito's current condition. She also mentions Han Ying, CIC, Polcanova, Diaz, Sawettabut, Shin Yubin, Batra and Lily Zhang as players to watch out for. She also said Ni Xialian's playing style may be scary for other Asian Players, but not for Japanese players who are generally adept at playing against this style.

For Women's Doubles, she says there seems to be a slight gap between China and Japan's doubles pairs when compared to the rest of the world. However, she highlights JJH/SYB as a strong and stable pair not from China or Japan. You can read the full articles at the links above to see Kato's full comments for each of the Chinese, Japanese, and Rest of the World players.

He observes that WCQ seems strong against ML, ML seems strong against FZD, and FZD seems strong against WCQ, so he's interested how the draw plays out. He feels ML has proven his strength and mentality in the WTTC and Olympic stage, so he would like to see if FZD can cross the "ML wall" and beat him on a stage bigger than the World Tour. He mentions Moregard, the Lebrun brothers, LYJ, Jorgic, QD, Lim Jong-hoon, Calderano and Kallberg as players to watch out for.

For Japanese players, he has a hunch that Harimoto will do well this WTTC. He also observes that Togami has difficulty against left-handers (Note: he could face WCQ in the R64). Interestingly, he feels that the contenders for the Men's doubles championship will likely be among the seeded players and believes that there will be less upsets in Men's Doubles than Men's Singles. For Mixed Doubles, he favors WCQ/SYS and Harimoto/Hayata to meet in the finals and calls them the two strongest pairs in the WTTC. He feels LSD/KM is the third strongest pair with a decent chance to make the final. He also mentions LJH/SYB and Uda/Kihara as the other noteworthy pairs. You can read the full articles at the links above to see Ueda's full comments for each of the Chinese, Japanese, and Rest of the World players.

Hirano has a tricky first-round opponent in Zeng Jian who just won the SEA games championships after beating Orawan and Suthasini who have been dominating the region in recent years. That same Orawan took two games off Ishikawa at the Olympics and will likely face Kihara in the second round. 

Suh Hyo Won has the potential to upset Doo Hoi Kem again in R32, but that's provided she makes it past Bruna Takahashi and Karoline Mischek/Solomiya Bratekyo. These days it feels like Suh could lose against anybody. 

It's already 2023 and no sign of Yui Hamamoto in Austrian colours anywhere. Did she change her nationality for nothing? Kinda tired of watching Amelie Solja being a sitting duck at the table.