In front of his home fans, Calderano successfully shielded himself by defeating sixth seed An Jaehyun of South Korea in straight sets (11-7, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6) for his sixth WTT Series title and his first this season.
“I feel amazing. It’s an amazing atmosphere here, playing here at home. I’m very happy to have won this title here. It was very important to me to win in front of my whole family and a lot of fans from Brazil. I’m delighted to win the trophy,” said Calderano.
After his success on home soil, up next for Calderano is a trip to Lagos, where he will battle Aruna and other top stars for the title.
This year’s edition of the series in Lagos will be Aruna’s first at home after he withdrew from the 2023 edition due to an engagement with Fakel-Gazprom Orenburg, his former club, in the Russian table tennis league.
Last year’s finalist and world No.14, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, is also set to make a return to Lagos after his showing in 2023. It will be a return that brings a bitter-sweet taste, with Ovtcharov going down in the final of the event last year, losing out on the title to Zhou Qihao.
