The Round of 16 for the WTT Europe Smash 2025 is set to begin, and its matches are sure to become even more exciting with spots in the quarterfinals on the line.
The first two rounds of the men’s singles tournament have been full of upsets, including Belgium’s Adrian Rassenfosse’s (Men’s No. 103) victory against China’s Liang Jingkun (Men’s No. 5). Rassenfosse’s impressive run will continue against France’s Simon Gauzy (Men’s No. 32), and the winner of that match will face the winner of Japan’s Shunsuke Togami (Men’s No. 26) and Slovenia’s Darko Jorgić (Men’s No. 9).
Though several giants have fallen, top-seeded Lin Shidong has yet to drop a single game. Germany’s Ricardo Walther (Men’s No. 42) hopes to hand Lin his first three losses of the tournament, which would earn him the opportunity to take on one of his fellow Germans, Dang Qiu (Men’s No. 13) or Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Men’s No. 31), in the quarterfinals.
No country has had a presence in these tournaments quite like the event's host country, Sweden, and part of that is because Truls Möregårdh (Men’s No. 7) has represented his homeland very well. Möregårdh will face Korea’s Cho Dae-song (Men’s No. 67), who took down German star Patrick Franziska (Men’s No. 14) in the prior round.
The winner of that match will face the winner of Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto (Men’s No. 3) and Korea’s An Jae-hyun (Men’s No. 17), two recent risers in the ITTF’s rankings who are looking to ascend even higher.
Hugo Calderano (Men’s No. 4), the man Harimoto overtook to become the third-seeded men’s singles player in the world, will face Korea’s Oh Jun-sung (Men’s No. 16). That winner will take on whomever emerges victorious between Japan’s Yukiya Uda and Germany’s Benedikt Duda (Men’s No. 10).
Anyone hoping to claim the women’s singles title will likely have to go through China’s Sun Yingsha, the top-ranked player in the world. Japan’s Hina Hayata (Women’s No. 13) will face this challenge in the Round of 16, and the winner of that match will face either Korea’s Lee Eun-hye (Women’s No. 49) or Japan’s Mima Ito (Women’s No. 8).
Can Chen Xingtong (Women’s No. 3) earn another WTT title this soon after winning the WTT Champions Yokohama 2025? That possibility will only remain if she defeats Germany’s Sabine Winter (Women’s No. 40), who upset Romania’s Bernadette Szocs to earn her spot in the Round of 16.
Awaiting Chen or Winter will be either Chen Yi (Women’s No. 10) of China, or Brazil’s Bruna Takahashi (Women’s No. 19), who kept her title hopes alive after stunning sixth-seeded Miwa Harimoto (Women’s No. 6) from Japan in five games.
Macao’s Zhu Yuling (Women’s No. 7) and Japan’s Satsuki Odo (Women’s No. 9) will face off and show Sweden which of these seeded stars shines brighter. That match’s victor will go up against the winner between China’s Shi Xunyao (Women’s No. 12) and Kuai Man (Women’s No. 4).
Two battles between China and Japan will round out this round of the women’s singles tournament, as the winner of Wang Yidi (Women’s No. 5) and Honoka Hashimoto (Women’s No. 11) will face off against the winner of Wang Manyu (Women’s No. 2) and Miyu Nagasaki (Women’s No. 15).
The Round of 16 for both WTT Europe Smash 2025 singles tournaments will take place on Thursday in Malmö, Sweden.
*All ITTF rankings are as of Week 34, updated on Aug. 19 2025
