"Business or pleasure?" This standard icebreaker for fellow travelers presupposes that the two pursuits are mutually exclusive. One world traveler at the WTT Star Contender Doha 2021, however, argued convincingly to the contrary. Hugo Calderano of Brazil (pictured) has become a staple of the world's top 10 rankings for over three years, yet has somehow done so without ever really winning much internationally. Calderano has long dominated the Pan American Games, but tends to underperform away from the comforts of home. His two singles titles on the ITTF World Tour both came at the Brazil Open, in 2013 and 2017. Now, at 25, Calderano may finally be poised to cash in on his considerable promise as a world-beater. At the lucrative Doha tournament, the world #8 Calderano was seeded second behind world #7 Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany. While Ovtcharov's campaign failed to launch, Calderano cruised to the finals. In the quarters, Calderano defeated former TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen teammate Simon Gauzy of France, 3-1. In the best-of-seven semis, there was little drama as Calderano overpowered England's Liam Pitchford, 4-1. This set up a final with the dangerous Darko Jorgic of Slovenia. While Jorgic held a 2-1 lead in games, he could not stop a motivated Calderano from claiming his first WTT championship. With the win, Calderano claims not only a sizable chunk of cheddar but also 600 world ranking points. This bonus will propel him to world #5 in next week's rankings, a high water mark for "The Thrill from Brazil." "In the fourth game, I was down 6-3, and I think that was a key moment for me when I recovered as it was very tough for him to come back after I won the game," said Calderano. "The main thing is winning the title, of course, but it’s also great to see it showing in the rankings, so I’m just happy and will try and celebrate it as much as I can." While Hugo Calderano quite responsibly took care of business in Doha, it is clear he derived no small measure of pleasure from the undertaking.

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