Zhou Qihao cruises to R16 in 18 mins

On November 3 (Beijing Time), the 2026 WTT Champions Frankfurt kicked off its first match day. In a just-concluded men's singles Round of 32 match, Chinese player Zhou Qihao defeated France's Thibault Poret 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 12-10) to advance. Next, Zhou will face the winner between Chinese Taipei's Lin Yun-ju and Slovenia's Darko Jorgic.

At the 2026 WTT Champions Frankfurt, both Zhou Qihao and Thibault Poret entered the main draw directly based on their world rankings. On Monday (Nov 2), the ITTF released the world rankings for Week 45 of 2026. In men's singles, Zhou moved up one spot to world No. 12 with 3,030 points, while Poret sits at world No. 22 with 1,865 points. This was their first career meeting on the WTT circuit.

Zhou started strong, performing excellently in the receive phase to take an 8-3 lead. Dominating the first three strokes, he quickly took the first game 11-5. In the second game, after trailing 0-1, Zhou won four straight points, forcing Poret to call a timeout. After the break, Zhou maintained his momentum, controlling both the short game and rallies to win 11-5 again.

The third game was a tight back-and-forth battle, with the score tied at 1-1, 2-2, and 3-3. The score remained close in the latter half, but at the crucial moments, Zhou was more decisive and executed his tactics better, repeatedly breaking down the defense with short forehand serves. He eventually took the game 12-10 to secure a straight-games sweep.

Official statistics show the match lasted only 18 minutes.

According to the draw, Zhou is in the bottom half of the men's singles bracket, with compatriots like Wang Chuqin and Wen Ruibo in the same quarter. After this win, Zhou will face the winner between Lin Yun-ju and Darko Jorgic in the Round of 16. The match between Lin and Jorgic is scheduled for around 23:05 tonight.