Calderano’s opponent in tomorrow’s final at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena will be China’s world number two and top seed Fan Zhendong.

He defeated compatriot Xu Xin, seeking a fourth Qatar Open win, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9. 

But such has been Calderano’s progress that he will surely not be without hope.

In the round of 16 he defeated Germany’s world number one Timo Boll 4-1.

"I am very happy that I could beat such a high-level player 4-0, I never would have thought that his would have happened," said Calderano, seeded 13th in Doha.

"It is a great feeling to be from Brazil, non-traditional table tennis country and to be surprising top Chinese players at the highest level.

"I am very proud!"

Both Fan and Xu Xin had reached the semi-finals by beating players who had been required to compete in the qualification tournament.

Fan accounted for Denmark’s Jonathan Groth 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-3, 14-12 and Xu Xin overcame colleague Zhou Yu 11-5, 10-12, 11-5, 13-11, 6-11, 10-12, 11-8.

On the other side of the draw, Lin Gaoyuan beat Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting 11-7, 11-4, 11-7, 11-7 and then Calderano took centre stage to overcome Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7.

The women’s final will feature China’s Wang Manyu, who earned revenge for her defeat in last year’s final by securing victory in five games against compatriot and world number one Chen Meng.

Wang, the number four seed, defeated Chen 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7 to earn a meeting with another Chinese player, Liu Shiwen after she overcame Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa 11-5, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4.

Ishikawa and Shiwen had emerged as the second women’s singles semi-final pairing after their early matches.

Ishikawa accounted for compatriot Miu Hirano 9-11, 14-12, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 14-12 before Liu Shiwen overcame Japan’s Hitomi Sato 10-12, 11-5, 11-2, 11-5, 11-5.