ITTF World Cup 2025: Calderano bags historic first-ever title for Brazil, Sun Yingsha defends women’s crown

Hugo Calderano bagged a historic first-ever men’s singles title for Brazil while Sun Yingsha continued China’s dominance in women’s singles at the ITTF World Cup in Macao, China, on Sunday.

The 28-year-old Calderano completed a fairytale week with a 4-1 (6-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-4, 11-5) win over World No. 1 Lin Shidong of China in the final.

World No. 5 Calderano, the first Pan American player to clinch the men’s crown, had earlier stunned Lin’s compatriot and World No. 2 Wang Chuqin 4-3 (14-12, 5-11, 6-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 12-10) in the semifinals where he came back from 1-3 down and also saved a match point.

Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov (2017) was the last non-Chinese player to win the men’s singles title at the World Cup.

In women’s final, World No. 1 Sun defended her title easily with a 4-0 (11-9, 11-6, 11-9, 11-6) victory over compatriot and World No. 7 Kuai Man.

For 21-year-old Kuai, this was a breakthrough tournament as she registered comeback wins – 4-2 (5-11, 10-12, 11-6, 18-16, 11-9, 11-5) over World No. 2 Wang Manyu (China) in the quarterfinals and 4-3 (9-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7) against World No. 9 Mima Ito of Japan in the semifinals.

Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula were the only Indians in the tournament and neither managed to qualify for the knockout stage.