Han stuns top seed Manyu to enter WTT Champions semis
Germany’s Ying Han recorded one of the greatest wins of her career, knocking out top seed Wang Manyu over seven games (11-6, 4-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-4, 8-11, 11-6) to reach the semis of the WTT Champions Doha 2026 at the Lusail Sports Arena Saturday. Han went into the tie as the World No 22, and had never progressed past the quarter-final at a WTT Champions event. Wang is the current World No 2 and only recently defended her WTT Finals title. “Of course, I am extremely pleased with my performance because I have never beaten her before; the best I ever did was win one game against her. My goal today was to win two games, and when I won the third game, I started to get a little bit of belief. And then I just wanted to give it my all for every point,” said Ying Han This match was Han’s third quarter-final at this level, but the win was not just a giant killing. Edging Wang over seven games means Han has become the oldest player to reach a WTT Champions semis, aged 42 years and 256 days old. In today’s semis, Han will again have to pull off a historic upset by beating No. 6 seed Zhu Yuling of Macau if she hopes to move one step closer to the title. The last time Han met Zhu was also here in Doha back in 2016. Today’s match will be the first WTT clash between the pair. Yuling, the the former World No 1, downed Wang Yidi 11-5, 11-9, 11-13, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8 to progress to the semi-final. Zhu, who celebrates her 31st birthday Saturday, has been in fantastic form all week at Lusail Sports Arena, having not gone behind once in her first three matches and having only dropped a total of four games. “I cherished every moment throughout the entire match because I don’t get too many opportunities to compete with highly skilled players like Wang Yidi. I’d treat it as an intense training for myself. Today, I performed at my best at every moment and settled into the first game fast,” said Yuling In the all-Chinese women’s semi-final, third seed Chen Xingtong will take on second seed Man Kuai. The men’s singles will contested between China’s top seed Lin Shidong and South Korea’s Jan Woojin, while Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto will face Chinese Taipie’s Lin Yun-Ju. In the quarters, top seed Shidong overcame Liang Jingkun, while Woojin beat Truls Moregard. Harimoto also advanced with a win over Felix Lebrun and Yun-Ju delivered a flawless performance to defeat Sora Matushima.