{"id":82287,"date":"2026-07-05T00:22:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T07:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=82287"},"modified":"2026-07-05T00:45:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T07:45:23","slug":"lwen-yuan-and-wang-kuai-claim-us-smash-2026-doubles-crowns-as-singles-semifinals-lock-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=82287","title":{"rendered":"LWEN \/ YUAN AND WANG \/ KUAI CLAIM US SMASH 2026 DOUBLES CROWNS AS SINGLES SEMIFINALS LOCK IN"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOURTH OF JULY DELIVERS MEN\u2019S AND WOMEN\u2019S DOUBLES GLORY,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

AND A SINGLES DRAW NOW ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE TITLE MATCHES<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

ONTARIO, CALIF., JULY 4, 2026 \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Fourth of July at\u00a0US Smash 2026<\/a>\u00a0came with hardware on the table, pressure in the air, and the kind of Grand Smash tension that turns every session into a statement.<\/p>\n

With the Doubles events reaching title territory and the Singles Quarterfinals ripping through the draw, Day 7 at the Ontario Convention Center gave Southern California a full championship menu: Women\u2019s Doubles crowned, Men\u2019s Doubles heading for its final swing, and the Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Singles fields now locked for Sunday afternoon\u2019s Semifinals.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Wang Manyu\u00a0and\u00a0Kuai Man (Photo by Richard Ren\/LAPost)<\/p><\/div>\n

The first Doubles crown of the day went to\u00a0Wang Manyu<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Kuai Man<\/a>, who defeated\u00a0Miwa Harimoto<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Hina Hayata<\/a>\u00a03-1 (13-11, 4-11, 14-12, 11-8)<\/a>\u00a0to capture the Women\u2019s Doubles title inside Maverick\u00a0\u2606\u00a0Arena.<\/p>\n

It was not a clean march. Harimoto and Hayata took the second game with authority and pushed the third into a pressure cooker, but Wang and Kuai found the sharper edge when the match tilted. The 14-12 third game became the turning point, giving the Chinese pair the separation they needed before they closed the door in the fourth.<\/p>\n

For Kuai, the win adds another major US Smash Doubles chapter after her 2025 Women\u2019s Doubles title in Las Vegas alongside\u00a0Wang Yidi<\/a>. This time, standing with Wang Manyu, she finished the job again. For Wang Manyu, it was a statement of her own after reaching last year\u2019s Women\u2019s Doubles Final and falling just short. In Southern California, she flipped the ending.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Wen Ruibo\u00a0and\u00a0Yuan Licen (Photo by Richard Ren\/LAPost)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Men\u2019s Doubles title match then brought\u00a0Lin Shidong<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Huang Youzheng<\/a>\u00a0against\u00a0Wen Ruibo<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Yuan Licen<\/a>, an all-China Final loaded with speed, first-strike pressure and two pairs that had cut through the draw from opposite halves.<\/p>\n

Wen and Yuan took the crowns the hard way, defeating Lin and Huang\u00a03-2 (11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9)<\/a>\u00a0in a Final that kept swinging until the very end. After taking the opening game, Wen and Yuan watched Lin and Huang flip the match with back-to-back games, putting the top seeds one game from the title. But the challengers refused to disappear. The fourth game reset the table. Wen and Yuan tightened their patterns, struck earlier in the rallies, and forced the Final into a decider. In the fifth, Lin and Huang moved within touching distance at 9-7, only for Wen and Yuan to find the final surge, winning four of the last five points and converting championship point at 10-9 to seal the Men\u2019s Doubles crowns.<\/p>\n

While Doubles owned the title lane, Singles locked in its final four.<\/p>\n

In Men\u2019s Singles,\u00a0Sora Matsushima<\/a>\u00a0continued his ruthless run, sweeping\u00a0Anders Lind<\/a>\u00a04-0 (11-5, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8)<\/a>\u00a0to become one of the first names into the Semifinals. Lind had already produced one of the biggest shocks of the week by taking out defending champion\u00a0Wang Chuqin<\/a>\u00a0in the Round of 16, but Matsushima gave him no runway. The Japanese No.6 seed has yet to drop a game in Southern California, and that kind of clean damage makes him one of the most dangerous players left in the draw.<\/p>\n

Waiting for him is\u00a0Felix Lebrun<\/a>, who survived the all-French Quarterfinal against his brother\u00a0Alexis Lebrun<\/a>, winning\u00a04-2 (9-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8)<\/a>\u00a0to end one of the most emotionally loaded matches of the week. After Alexis had removed\u00a0Lin Shidong<\/a>\u00a0in the Round of 16, France was guaranteed a player in the Semifinals. Felix made sure it would be him, setting up a collision with Matsushima that now carries speed, youth, pressure and a place in the US Smash Final.<\/p>\n

Truls Moregard<\/a>\u00a0also moved through with force, taking down\u00a0Jang Woojin<\/a>\u00a04-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-5, 11-5)<\/a>. After ending\u00a0Kanak Jha<\/a>\u2019s home-soil surge in the Round of 16, Moregard came back with an even colder performance, stripping the drama out of the match early and never letting Jang find a foothold.<\/p>\n

His Semifinal opponent will be the dark horse,\u00a0Vladimir Sidorenko<\/a>, who continued one of the sharpest runs of the week by beating\u00a0Hiroto Shinozuka<\/a>\u00a04-1 (11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8)<\/a>. Sidorenko had already removed\u00a0Tomokazu Harimoto<\/a>\u00a0in straight games one round earlier, and he backed it up against Shinozuka with another composed, high-pressure win. Shinozuka had arrived carrying serious momentum after taking out\u00a0Hugo Calderano<\/a>, but Sidorenko absorbed the fight and kept moving.<\/p>\n

The Men\u2019s Singles Semifinals are now set: Sora Matsushima meets Felix Lebrun in one half, while Truls Moregard faces Vladimir Sidorenko in the other. After a week that has already taken out Wang Chuqin, Lin Shidong, Tomokazu Harimoto and Hugo Calderano, the draw has become a survival test with no safe side left.<\/p>\n

In Women\u2019s Singles, the\u00a0Sun Yingsha<\/a>\u00a0sent the clearest message of the day, beating\u00a0Chen Xingtong<\/a>\u00a04-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6)<\/a>\u00a0in a top-tier all-China Quarterfinal that never got away from her. After reaching the Mixed Doubles Final earlier in the week, Sun has kept her Singles campaign brutally clean. Her next opponent will be\u00a0Wang Yidi<\/a>, who ended\u00a0Joo Cheonhui<\/a>\u2019s run with a\u00a04-0<\/a>\u00a0win of her own.<\/p>\n

Joo came into the Quarterfinal carrying one of the biggest Women\u2019s Singles results of US Smash 2026, having taken out defending champion\u00a0Zhu Yuling<\/a>\u00a0in the Round of 16. But Wang Yidi halted the surge, winning\u00a011-8, 11-5, 11-7, 11-6<\/a>\u00a0and turning a potential danger match into controlled business. After surviving\u00a0Sakura Yokoi<\/a>\u00a0in five games on Day 6, Wang looked far sharper one round later and now gets the ultimate test: the World No.1 in the Semifinals.<\/p>\n

Miwa Harimoto<\/a>\u00a0also kept her Singles run alive, beating\u00a0Hina Hayata<\/a>\u00a04-1 (11-7, 11-7, 13-11, 9-11, 11-6)<\/a>\u00a0in an all-Japan Quarterfinal that carried extra weight after the pair had earlier contested the Women\u2019s Doubles Final together. The Doubles crown slipped away, but Harimoto\u2019s Singles campaign pushed forward, and she now faces Kuai Man for a place in the US Smash Final.<\/p>\n

Kuai had to go through the longest route of the day, outlasting\u00a0Hitomi Sato<\/a>\u00a04-3<\/a>\u00a0in a seven-game battle that refused to break cleanly until the final point. Sato, the Wildcard who had already stunned Wang Manyu and built one of the most compelling runs of the event, pushed Kuai into deep water again and again. But Kuai found the last answer, closing out a brutal\u00a0(5-11, 11-5, 9-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-3, 18-16)<\/a>\u00a0win to keep her Singles title chase alive after already claiming the Women\u2019s Doubles crown.<\/p>\n

The Women\u2019s Singles Semifinals are now locked: Sun Yingsha faces Wang Yidi in a heavyweight all-China clash, while Miwa Harimoto meets Kuai Man in a showdown built on youth, speed and Grand Smash pressure. With the defending champion gone, Wang Manyu already out, and Sato\u2019s wildcard run finally stopped at the last possible edge, the Women\u2019s Singles title race enters Sunday with power, danger and no shortage of bite.<\/p>\n

Saturday gave Southern California Doubles glory. Sunday brings the Singles Semifinals, the final title fights, and one last day for the biggest names left standing to finish the job. US Smash 2026 continues through Sunday at the Ontario Convention Center in Southern California. Tickets are available now at\u00a0ussmash.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FOURTH OF JULY DELIVERS MEN\u2019S AND...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82279,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ca-local","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82287"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82292,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82287\/revisions\/82292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/82279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}