Hiroto Shinozuka vs Simon Gauzy | MS QF | #WTTLjubljana 2026

Two top world players. Frenchman to serve. To have his turn to serve. His first one coming up now. Takes the ball. Underneath the ball. Very quick to see what's going on. So the winner of this one won't play Togami, but they will play in the other half of the draw. Having beaten Dimitrij Ovtcharov. A lovely play from away from the table there for Gauzy, but it's another point for Shinozuka. That's the power we've been used to from Shinokuza. Got his rhythm and range yet. Still tuning in. Well he certainly tuned in there. That might be his big arrival Has all the experience, that's for sure. Shinozuka, 22 years of age. Wow, see what Gauzy did there. The ball was spun up to the backhand. Gauzy needs this one. Forced away from the table and his first game to Hiroto. Yeah, rich explosive player. You can hear the exertion from putting everything into it, aren't they? What a lob and I think that got to put a stop to this up-and-coming Japanese world-class player. He's already he's trying to prove that he deserves a place in the Japan and then aim for Harimoto and Matsushima. He was amazing against Felix. Spinning up the backhand topspin. One more squares the match and that's it. Start doing that with Simon Gauzy more. And both players getting their timing there. Hiroto did nothing wrong. He was playing great but Simon Gauzy just started to read. Let's end this tournament beaten by Park Gyu-hyun of Korea. Yeah, that's not coming back. Fantastic early topspin from Hiroto. So they are in fact in the end going to play it again. I think Simon wanted to be fair to the Japanese and get their ascent. He's still in it. Unlucky. Hiroto playing him everywhere there. Oh, look at that smash. Well, interesting. Two of those loops went into the body of Gauzy but because he's away from the table more so than Felix was. 100 miles an hour into the net. There's the shot again. There's the one he sometimes chooses to lob when he's caught out of position. Other times he'll just try and hang on and power the ball from away from the table. Power. Lobbing again and managed to get himself right back into the rally. It's all about getting that first lob long with lots of topspin. If you can do that, that just Okay, so it's Japan serving. Oh, that was the best disguised drop shot I've seen in a long time. Oh, Gauzy lobbing again. Gauzy again going for the sidespin backhand mid-rally. Having come so far out of position but the Japanese takes the point. Press train straight down the line. Right-hander to left-hander. Backhand to backhand. He's done well to get to the quarters here. Can he take it one more? To do so, can Gauzy close in? Again the fast serve down the line. Well, he was 5-2 up. Now 8-6 down. But Gauzy's having none of that. Oh, that's not coming back. Look where that went. It hit the date on the second row. Well, two games at the end of this game. He's lobbing again and this would be a nice one to get. Yes, he knows that Simon Gauzy turned him over there with the sidespin. Both players have played pretty well. So much vision. And so is this. Gauzy serving 7-5 up. Again goes for the fast serve. Could go either way. Lead as a result. So that gives a three-point gap. All the way through, including in this match. For the semi-final. Oh, that was incredible. Hiroto Shinazuka doesn't believe what's just happened. Victory over Felix Lebrun. Look at that. It's ridiculous.