Video: World Table Tennis via YouTube

Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto won WTT Champions Frankfurt on Sunday 8 November, beating home favourite Patrick Franziska 4-2 in the final.

Franziska won the first game 11-2 and came from 2-10 down to take the third 13-11, but Harimoto won the second 11-9 and then the last three 11-8, 11-4, 11-4. The Süddeutsche Zeitung counts it as Harimoto's tenth title on the WTT tour.

The second seed had a harder semi-final. Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei levelled their match at 3-3 before Harimoto took the decider 11-8. Franziska beat Japan's Shunsuke Togami 4-2 in the other semi-final.

For Franziska, 34, it was a second losing final in seven days after his 4-3 defeat by Jang Woojin in Montpellier. His Frankfurt run included a fifth-game win over team-mate Benedikt Duda from two games down and a 4-2 quarter-final win over world No.1 Sora Matsushima. "Reaching the final in Frankfurt after Montpellier as well is madness," he said on Sunday evening, as quoted by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, adding that he was sad about the defeat but would soon be proud of his performance.

The prize for the runner-up was 20,000 US dollars, and the ranking points lifted Franziska to world No.11 in the list published on 9 November. Harimoto moved up to No.2 behind Matsushima.

China had no player in the men's semi-finals. Wen Ruibo, who knocked out Wang Chuqin, lost to Lin Yun-Ju in the quarter-finals.

Kit corner

Butterfly's player pages list Zyre 03 for all four semi-finalists: on both sides for Harimoto, on the forehand for Lin Yun-Ju, the backhand for Togami, and on Franziska's bat with Dignics 09C.

Sources: Xinhua, 9 Nov 2026 · Süddeutsche Zeitung · FAZ, 8 Nov 2026 · DotDotNews, 9 Nov 2026 · Butterfly: Tomokazu Harimoto · Butterfly: Lin Yun-Ju