The 2025 WTT Finals landed in Hong Kong for the first time, played over five days (10-14 December) at the Hong Kong Coliseum. The biggest story was not who won but how the event was rebuilt: doubles was cut to mixed only, men’s and women’s doubles were dropped, the prize pool doubled from $700,000 to $1.3 million, and all singles matches moved to best-of-seven.

Men’s singles went to Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto, who beat Sweden’s Truls Moregard in the final for his first WTT Finals singles crown. The defending champion, Wang Chuqin, withdrew from the semifinals through injury and could not defend his title. Wang Manyu took the women’s crown over Kuai Man; in mixed doubles, Korea’s Lim Jonghoon and Shin Yubin beat Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha 3-0.

Trimming doubles to mixed only is a clear tightening by WTT: with limited year-end slots, it is better to make singles and mixed — the events with the strongest storylines — shine. Doubling the purse signals the Finals want to be table tennis’ year-end spectacle. For players, it compresses the room for side events and makes the singles throne more valuable; for viewers, a tighter schedule means every final berth matters more.

A small note: this was the fifth WTT Finals. After Singapore, Xinxiang, Doha, Nagoya and Fukuoka, the year-end finale reached Hong Kong for the first time — Asia remains the commercial heart of the tour.