High tempo

Playing at a high tempo suits England’s Paul Drinkhall; that fact was underlined earlier this year when he won the men’s singles title at the 2019 ITTF Challenge Serbia Open, beating Frenchman, Abdel-Kader Salifou in the final. He recovered from a two games to nil deficit to impose himself on the contest (8-11, 10-12, 12-10, 11-3, 11-2, 11-1).

Against Slovenia’s Darko Jorgic it was very much the same, he trailed by three games to one before pressing the accelerator to secure a full distance win (11-7, 5-11, 6-11, 8-11, 13-11, 11-9, 11-5).

“He’s strong from the backhand, so I tried not to let him play his strength. He did miss some backhands. I tried to impose my gain; even when I was losing 3-1 I felt good in myself. It was important to try to establish a fast tempo; also in the seventh game I made a really good start, at 10-4 he played an outrageous backhand but to win he would had to do that again and again.” Paul Drinkhall

Different scenario for Alexandru Cazacu

The surprise winner the previous day in opposition to Portugal’s Marcos Freitas (11-9, 13-15, 5-11, 11-3, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6); facing another left handed top spin attacking player, Romania’s Alexandru Cazacu experienced a reversal of fortunes. He was beaten by Frenchman, Enzo Angles (9-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-8, 12-10).

“In the first game I didn’t serve that well, I was throwing the ball too high. After the opening game I created more angles when I served; I played better when I stepped around my backhand to play my forehand. He plays with a great of top spin, so I had to keep varying the play.” Enzo Angles

Run of Chinese success ended

Match after match, facing adversaries from foreign shores, Chinese players have progressed; that scenario was halted by Thailand’s Supanut Wisutmaythangkoon. He withstood a brave recovery by Zhang Yudong to reserve his place in round four (11-5, 13-11, 11-5, 6-11, 8-11, 2-11, 11-5).

“At the start of the match I was doing well in the short play but after the third game he changed and started to flip the ball more. In the seventh game I think he became nervous; I became more confident in the open play.” Supanut Wisutmaythangkoon.

Behind the scenes

While the intense qualification action continues, the seeded stars are preparing to take to the stage.

Difficult start for hosts but morning saved

Defeats for Sweden’s Anton Källberg and Elias Ranefur but the host nation’s morning was saved by left-hander Viktor Brodd, who outpaced his Croatian counterpart Andrej Gacina in emphatic style (11-9, 11-7, 11-4, 11-9).

“Good tactics, I think today I was perhaps too fast for him but also my ball placement was accurate. I received service well; I expected he would use the forehand reverse serve more. I moved well, overall it was a solid performance.” Viktor Brodd

Pavel Platonov stops opening day hero in his tracks

Responsible for Jonathan Groth’s exit on the opening day of qualification but Mehdi Bouloussa’s journey is over with the Frenchman falling to Belarusian Pavel Platonov in a seven-game thriller (10-12, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10, 11-5, 9-11, 11-7).

“Mentally I felt really good before playing Mehdi; the fact we won the mixed doubles match gave me a real boost. It was a question of focus on every point; I was down two games to one but came back. He was very aggressive; he is very powerful, very strong from the backhand. In the seventh I was down 2-4 and then level at 5-5. I felt calm in my mind and maintained concentration.” Pavel Platonov

Takuya Jin continues to show progress

One of Japan’s up-and-coming names, Takuya Jin continues to pick up noteworthy results with his latest coming in preliminary round three of the men’s singles qualification tournament in Stockholm. Taking on Romania’s Ovidiu Ionescu, the young Japanese star needed just four games to extend his stay in the competition (11-9, 11-8, 11-8, 11-3).

Straight games success for Brazilians

Arguably the standout performance of the 10.10am session came courtesy of Brazil’s Gustavo Tsuboi and Bruna Takahashi, who combined to beat 2017 World Junior Championships runners-up Cristian Pletea and Adina Diaconu in straight games (11-9, 11-6, 11-2).

“I don’t think we did anything special, we were able to win the rallies: that was the difference, not the short play.” Bruna Takahashi

“It was important not to give Cristian time to play, not let him into the match. I was able to top spin the first ball and Bruna could then finish the point.” Gustavo Tsuboi

Reaction from table 6

Here’s what Jakub Dyjas and Natalia Partyka had to say following their opening round success:

“Service and receive was the key, Yuan had problems with my service; Natalia was team captain today.” Jakub Dyjas

“Even though we were 5-9 down I felt confident, we just played our game.” Natalia Partyka

Koreans too strong for Källberg duo

Jang Woojin and Yang Haeun have enjoyed a winning start to their mixed doubles campaign in Stockholm after the pair from Korea Republic successfully dealt with Sweden’s Anton and Christina Källberg 3-1 in preliminary round one (12-10, 6-11, 11-9, 15-13).

One of the standout encounters of the session took place over on table 6: leading by two games to one but Poland’s Jakub Dyjas and Natalia Partyka were slow off the mark in game four, trailing France’s Emmanuel Lebesson and Yuan Jia Nan 5-9 on the scoreboard. Showing great resolve Dyjas and Partyka won six points in a row to secure victory (12-10, 3-11, 11-4, 11-9).

Who will qualify?

Which players do you think will join the seeded entries in the main event?

Players to the tables

The time for the second day of qualification to commence has arrived – here’s a look at the day’s schedule: