On Sunday, Japan's 16-year-old wunderkind Tomokazu Harimoto won the Men's Singles title at the 2019 ITTF World Tour Asarel Bulgaria Open. With the win, Harimoto claimed his first ITTF World Tour title since the World Tour Grand Finals in Incheon, South Korea last December. As far as slumps go, it barely qualified. Ask Tiger Woods, who was stuck at 14 major championships for 11 years until he claimed this year's Masters in April. Or better yet, ask Hou Yingchao, the journeyman chopper who waited 19 years to win his second Chinese national table tennis championship, improbably secured this July. Nonetheless, for a fiery young competitor like Harimoto, any title drought must seem like an eternity in the Sahara. After a particularly disappointing showing in front of his home crowd at the Japan Open, when he lost in the opening round, Harimoto was determined to get back to his winning ways. At the Bulgaria Open in Panagyurishte, Harimoto had the additional pressure of being the top seed by dint of his world #4 ranking. Unfazed, he played like a man possessed, dropping only three games en route to the finals. Especially impressive was Harimoto's straight-sets dismantling of Portugal's Marcos Freitas, who had upset two higher-ranked players to reach the semifinals. In the finals, Harimoto met unheralded Chinese penholder Zhao Zihao. Ranked 127th in the world, Zhao had racked up an intimidating series of wins over France's Simon Gauzy, Slovenia's Darko Jorgic, Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov, and Nigeria's Quadri Aruna, all of whom are comfortably ranked among the top 50 players in the world. Harimoto, however, was in no mood to indulge Zhao's Cinderella storyline, winning the title in six games. It was a hard-fought contest, though, with three games going to overtime. “I feel very strong mentally and, even though I lost a couple of games during the final, I managed to fight and never gave up. I kept going and ended up winning," said Harimoto after the final. "I’m not going to take things easy now. I’ll keep pushing on to reach new heights.” With the forgettable first half of 2019 behind him, the sky is again the limit for Harimoto. Just don't call it a comeback.

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