Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna made a flying start to his WTT Champions Macao 2025 campaign on Tuesday, sweeping past China’s Huang Youzheng in straight games in the men’s singles round of 32.

The world No. 26, who has struggled for form in recent months, looked revitalized at the Macao East Asian Games Dome, dispatching the wildcard entrant 11-3, 11-8, 11-8. Aruna dominated from start to finish, winning 33 points overall against Huang’s 19, including 19 on his own serve. His control was highlighted by a seven-point scoring streak and an eight-point lead at its widest margin, while Huang’s longest rally stretched to just two points.

The emphatic win marks a timely return to form for the 36-year-old, who had managed just one victory in his previous six World Table Tennis outings, with defeats to the likes of Shunsuke Togami, Tomokazu Harimoto, Truls Möregårdh, and Omar Assar stalling his momentum.

Aruna now progresses to the round of 16, where he awaits the winner of Wednesday’s clash between Germany’s Patrick Franziska and China’s sixth seed Xiang Peng. A potential quarter-final meeting with fourth seed Hugo Calderano looms further ahead in the draw.

For Huang, ranked 49th in the world and granted one of two tournament wildcards, it was a tough introduction, as he failed to trouble Africa’s No. 1.

The WTT Champions Macao remains one of the sport’s marquee events, attracting the world’s top players. World No. 1 and defending champion Lin Shidong begins his title defence against Kao Cheng-Jui, while big names Wang Chuqin, Calderano, Harimoto, and Lin Yun-Ju are also in action.

In the women’s singles, Zhu Yuling cruised past India’s Sreeja Akula to book her place in the round of 16, while Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz edged Austria’s Sofia Polcanova in a tense five-game battle. On the men’s side, Calderano underlined his title credentials with a hard-fought straight-games win over Korea’s An Jaehyun, closing out 13-11, 12-10, 11-8.