by Ian Marshall, Editor

Hard fought contestsd but not for the leading names on qualification duty. It was a day to study the opposition; the likes of Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus, China’s Zhao Zihao, Portugal’s Marcos Freitas and Sweden’s Kristian Karlsson start their journey on the second day of action.

Five points to note……….

Surprise outcomes
In the opening round of the men’s singles event, Frenchman Alexandre Cassin beat Finland’s Benedek Olah (4-11, 11-7, 12-10, 9-11, 12-14, 11-7, 12-10); also Singapore’s Pang Yew En Koen overcame Belgium’s Florent Lambiet (11-8, 8-11, 11-3, 10-12, 11-7, 12-10).

They were results to raise the eyebrows.

Surprise or not
China’s Yan An accounted India’s Harmeet Desai (11-6, 10-12, 13-11, 11-5, 11-9) in the men’s singles first round. Yan An has two ITTF World Tour titles to his credit, he won in Stockholm in 2013 and Budapest in 2017.

Similarly Serbia’s Zsolt Peto defeated Mexico’s Marcos Madrid (4-11, 11-8, 6-11, 13-11, 3-11, 11-5, 11-8). Earlier in the year Zsolt Peto had proved crucial to Serbia’s success at the ITTF World Team Qualification Tournament in Gondomar, gaining a place in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Likewise China’s Xiang Peng overcame Frenchman Can Akkuzu (11-9, 8-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-3, 12-14, 11-6). Xiang Peng is the reigning world junior champion and last December won at the 2019 ITTF Challenge Canada Open.

Also, China’s Xu Chenhao ended the hopes of Austria’s Stefan Fegerl (11-6, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7). Xu Chenhao was the runner up in the men’s singles event at the 2013 ITTF World Tour Japan Open

Rekindling yesteryear

Now some two decades ago and more, Sweden enjoyed a history of beating China to become world champions; those memories were rekindled.

Truls Moregard, secured an opening round men’s singles win against Fang Bo (11-4, 9-11, 11-9, 7-11, 10-12, 11-4, 12-10).

Maintaining form

Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko, booked his second round men’s singles place. He beat Croatia’s Wei Shihao, (9-11, 3-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8).

Thus he maintained his good form; in early February he won the men’s singles title at the 2019 ITTF Challenge Portugal Open.

Success for Japan

No current world ranking, in the opening round of the women’s singles event Sakura Yokoi and Haruna Sugita both caused upsets.

Sakura Yokoi beat Denmark’s Stefanie Christensen, (11-4, 12-10, 11-2, 11-7); Haruna Sugita accounted for Stéphanie Loeuillette, (8-11, 3-11, 11-9, 15-13, 12-10, 11-4).