Aruna storms into WTT Champions Macao round of 16

Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna made a flying start to his WTT Champions Macao 2025 campaign on Tuesday, sweeping aside China’s Huang Youzheng in straight games in the men’s singles round of 32. The world number 26, who had been struggling for form in recent months, showed no signs of hesitation at the Macao East Asian Games […]

Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna made a flying start to his WTT Champions Macao 2025 campaign on Tuesday, sweeping aside China’s Huang Youzheng in straight games in the men’s singles round of 32.

The world number 26, who had been struggling for form in recent months, showed no signs of hesitation at the Macao East Asian Games Dome, sealing an 11-3, 11-8, 11-8 victory.

Aruna outscored Huang 33–19 overall, converting 19 points on his own serve and 14 on return. His dominance was highlighted by a seven-point scoring streak and an eight-point lead at the widest margin, while Huang’s longest rally stretched to just two.

The win represents a timely return to form for the 36-year-old African number one, who had managed only one victory in his last six World Table Tennis outings, with defeats to the likes of Tomokazu Harimoto, Shunsuke Togami, Truls Möregårdh, and Omar Assar. Against Huang, however, he was sharp and composed throughout.

Wildcard entrant Huang, ranked 49th in the world, was unable to make an impact and exits early from the tournament. Aruna now progresses to the round of 16, where he will face either Germany’s Patrick Franziska or sixth seed Xiang Peng of China.

The WTT Champions Macao, one of the sport’s most prestigious tournaments, features a stacked field that includes defending champion and world number one Lin Shidong, Wang Chuqin, Hugo Calderano, Tomokazu Harimoto, and Lin Yun-Ju. Calderano, seeded fourth, advanced with a straight-games win over Korea’s An Jaehyun, while in the women’s singles, Zhu Yuling and Adriana Diaz also progressed to the round of 16.