If opening weekend taught us anything, it’s that nobody should get too comfortable with what they think they know about Major League Table Tennis Season 4.

Six matches over three days at the Gas South Convention Center in Duluth, Georgia produced dramatic swings, impressive individual performances and some surprisingly lopsided results.

Princeton Revolution and Los Angeles Spinners emerged from Week 1 at 2-1. Atlanta Blazers and Chicago Wind finished 1-2.

More revealing than the records was how each team got there.

Los Angeles started 2-0 before being routed by Chicago. Princeton opened with an 11-point loss and finished with a 17-point victory. Atlanta earned a victory on opening night, while Chicago dropped its first two matches before producing one of the weekend’s most convincing performances.

Nobody went undefeated.

Nobody went winless.

Welcome back to MLTT.

Los Angeles Makes the First Statement

Season 4 began Friday afternoon with Los Angeles making an immediate statement against Princeton.

The Spinners defeated the Revolution 16-5.

Los Angeles accumulated points throughout the five regulation matches to take a commanding advantage into the Golden Game and then finished the job with a 21-15 victory.

For Princeton, it was a difficult beginning to a season in which expectations remain high. The Revolution returned a deep core led by Seungmin Cho, Benedek Olah, Koyo Kanamitsu, Jiangshan Guo and Jinxin Wang.

But the opening result belonged emphatically to Los Angeles.

New-Look Atlanta Opens With a Win

Friday night’s second match featured an Atlanta team that underwent significant changes entering Season 4.

The Blazers entered the season with a rebuilt roster highlighted by No. 1 draft pick Quadri Aruna, joining returning players including Yuya Oshima, Rachel Sung and Tom Feng under first-year coach Koji Itagaki. Atlanta also turned to free agent Jessica Reyes Lai during opening weekend.

Their first test came against Chicago.

Atlanta passed it.

The Blazers defeated the Wind 14-7, earning their first victory of Season 4 on opening night.

Aruna immediately found himself in a high-profile matchup against Emmanuel Lebesson and provided an early look at what his power and athleticism can bring to the MLTT format.

Free agent Jessica Reyes Lai delivered one of Atlanta’s strongest performances of the opener, sweeping Mo Zhang 3-0.

Chicago found points elsewhere, including a 3-0 doubles victory by Sean Zhang and Daniel Tran over Woojin Kim and Tom Feng, but Atlanta had built the advantage it needed.

The Blazers finished the job in the Golden Game, winning 21-18.

For Atlanta, getting that first victory immediately was meaningful. Last season, the Blazers had to wait until Week 6 to record their first win.

After Friday, Los Angeles and Atlanta were undefeated.

That wouldn’t last long.

Princeton Responds

Saturday afternoon gave us the weekend’s first reminder of how dangerous it can be to draw conclusions from a single MLTT match.

Less than 24 hours after losing 16-5, Princeton looked like a different team against Chicago.

The Revolution won 13-8.

Jiangshan Guo delivered a sweep, while Seungmin Cho added two valuable singles points. Chicago stayed within striking distance through its own singles success and a strong doubles performance.

That made the Golden Game critical.

Princeton took control, winning 21-14 to secure its first team victory of Season 4 and even its weekend record at 1-1.

Princeton had absorbed the weekend’s first blowout Friday. Rather than allowing that result to carry into Saturday, the Revolution immediately put itself back into position for a winning weekend.

Los Angeles Moves to 2-0

Saturday night gave Atlanta an opportunity to join Los Angeles at 2-0.

Instead, the Spinners strengthened their early position.

Los Angeles defeated Atlanta 15-6.

Quadri Aruna gave the Blazers an early boost, but Los Angeles took control as the match progressed. The Spinners’ depth proved difficult to overcome, with Kou Lei and Alexandre Robinot delivering important singles performances.

Los Angeles then won the Golden Game 21-17.

Through two days, the Spinners were the only undefeated team in Duluth at 2-0. Princeton and Atlanta were 1-1, while Chicago was 0-2.

Then came Sunday.

Chicago Turns the Weekend Upside Down

Chicago entered Sunday without a victory.

Los Angeles entered without a loss.

A few hours later, both statements were obsolete.

Chicago overwhelmed Los Angeles 17-4.

Robert Gardos delivered a major performance for the Wind. Mo Zhang added another strong result, and Chicago also collected valuable points in doubles.

Los Angeles found some success through Ľubomír Pištej, but the Spinners couldn’t slow Chicago’s momentum.

The Wind delivered the exclamation point with a 21-9 Golden Game victory.

The result also put Chicago’s weekend into better perspective. Despite finishing 1-2, the Wind scored 32 match points while allowing 31.

Chicago left Duluth with a losing record but a positive point differential.

Princeton Saves Its Best for Last

Princeton closed Week 1 with a 19-2 victory over Atlanta, the largest margin of the weekend.

It began with one of Sunday’s most intriguing matchups: Seungmin Cho vs. Quadri Aruna.

Aruna took the opening game 11-10. Cho responded 11-9 and then pulled away 11-5 in Game 3 to give Princeton a 2-1 start.

From there, the Revolution barely gave Atlanta an opening.

Jiangshan Guo swept Rachel Sung 11-9, 11-7, 11-8.

Carlos Hernandez and Seungmin Cho swept Woojin Kim and Tom Feng in doubles 11-5, 11-10, 11-5.

Benedek Olah defeated Yuya Oshima 2-1, and Koyo Kanamitsu swept Woojin Kim.

Princeton collected 14 of the 17 regulation points before completing the afternoon with a 21-7 Golden Game victory.

Final: Princeton 19, Atlanta 2.

The result completed a striking transformation. Princeton went from a minus-11 point differential against Los Angeles Friday to plus-17 against Atlanta Sunday, a 28-point swing from its first match to its last.

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Princeton and Los Angeles each went 2-1 in Golden Games, while Chicago and Atlanta finished 1-2.

The Golden Game margins ranged from Atlanta’s tight 21-18 victory over Chicago Friday to Princeton’s commanding 21-7 win over Atlanta Sunday.

The standings also reveal something unusual about opening weekend. Chicago finished below .500 despite outscoring its opponents, while Princeton produced the best overall point differential despite suffering an 11-point defeat in its opener.

Most importantly, every team left Duluth with a win and a loss.

That leaves very little separation after Week 1 and plenty still to learn about all four teams.

Season 4 now moves to Willowbrook, Illinois, September 25-27, where Chicago returns to action alongside the Portland Paddlers, New York Slice and Bay Area Blasters.