ITTF-Americas Cup San Francisco 2026...
AJ Scott
This starts tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon at around 1 pm our time and goes on through Sunday, Feb. 1st: https://www.ittf.com/tournament/3398/ITTF%20Americas%20Cup%2026/ - Tournament page. As most of you already know, California is 3 hrs. behind us.
The top 5 men's seeds are Hugo Calderano, Kanak Jha (upset Hugo last time they played), Eugene Wang (still the Canadian no. 1 after all this time!), Horacio Cifuentes, and Nicolas Burgos. The 5 women's seed are Bruna Takahashi, Lily Zhang, Zhang Mo, Amy Wang, and Daniela Ortega (much improved in the past year), followed by Bruna's younger sister, Giulia Takahashi at no. 6. Adriana Diaz of P.R., the Pan-Am no. 1 woman, will not play.
Pips-out players... On the men's side the only one I recognize is Tyrese Knight of Barbados (chopper). As for the women, the only ones I recognize are Zhang Mo (short pips/fh), Giulia Takahashi (short pips/bh), Zeng Zhiying (chopper), Amber Liu (long pips/bh), and Tiffany Ke (short pips/fh).
This is the first of 2 events that will go on through the middle of next week--both being held in San Fran. The 2nd event, starting on Feb. 2nd, will be the North American Championships 2026: https://www.ittf.com/tournament/3470/2026NorthAmericanChampionships/ - tournament page. Kanak and Lily will not play that one, but Amy will.
AJ Scott
I'm not totally sure, but I think the livestream for this will start tomorrow at 1 pm our time at the ITTF-Americas YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ITTFAmericas/streams?theme=dark
And they'll start playing the main draw tomorrow at 1 pm as well: https://results.ittf.com/ittf-web-results/html/TTE3398/results.html#/results/2026-01-30 [tomorrow's schedule]. Kanak, Lily and Amy will be in action tomorrow. Speaking of Amy, her 1st match will be against a Japanese-Brazilian player by the name of Karina Shiray (sounds almost like "ka-REE-na she-RYE"). Her last name is usually written this way in Japan, 白井, and means "white" or "white well" or "silver well". Anyhow, Amy should win that match, but Shiray has one thing that might cause a problem--a super-fast serve. Do you all remember this Adam Bobrow video from 8 yrs. ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRk6naQznFM&theme=dark ?
It features Sakai Asuka (酒井明日香 - sounds like "sa-KAI AH-ska") of Japan who had developed a really fast serve that was first noticed by the then Aussie no. 1, William Henzell, while they were training at the Werner Schlager Training Center in Vienna. Henzell posted these 2 videos on his YouTube page 14 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfDVXPrLVkg [regular speed] and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e_YjUYO4PI [slo-mo analysis]. I think Sakai is playing in the MLTT this season. I wonder if he uses that serve in his matches? I watched a few of his matches back in the day when he was on the Japanese Nat'l Team and I don't recall ever seeing him use that serve back then.
Anyhow, Shiray must have seen those videos and analyzed them and taught herself how to do that serve and she's the only pro I'm aware of who does that serve in a match. Anyway, that's the only thing from Shirai that Amy has to worry about tomorrow. That match is late--it's scheduled for after midnight our time tomorrow night at 12:15 am Saturday morning.
Another potentially interesting match tomorrow could be Hugo Calderano vs. Emanuel Otalvaro, an upcoming junior who's the Columbian no. 1. I've been following this kid in the Junior circuit for the past few months and, for sure, he has potential. Hugo should win tomorrow, but Otalvaro might make things interesting. He's a future top Pan-American, for sure. That match is scheduled for 10 pm our time tomorrow night.
All the matches tomorrow will be played on Table 1.