Alkass Digital
Doha: The qualifiers of WTT Contender Doha 2024 began at Lusail Arena in Doha on Monday.
Alexandre Cassin of France defeated Andrej Gacina of Croatia 3-0 while Ibrahima Diaw of Senegal edged past Feng Yi-Hsin of Chinese Taipei.
Moreover, Cho Daeseong of South Korea overpowered Filip Zeljko of Croatia and Emmanuel Lebesson of France beat Adrian Rassen of Belgium 3-1.
Headlining the Men's Singles entries is Lin Yun-Ju. While Lin was absent from the 2023 edition, the Chinese Taipei star is more than familiar with Lusail Sport Arena. In 2021 the World No.6 made a run all the way to the final, before going down to Dimitrij Ovtcharov.
Another 2021 standout making a return to Contender Doha this year is Tomokazu Harimoto. Falling in the semifinal at his last showing in Qatar to Ovtcharov, Harimoto will be a favourite for the title this time around. With just a quarterfinal Contender appearance to his name in 2023, the World No.11 will want to kickstart the new season on a better foot.
WTT Series stalwarts Jang Woojin, Mattias Falck and Patrick Franziska will also all be headed to Doha in search of the first Contender title of the year.