Listed at no.291 on the current men’s world rankings, in the second tournament he had caused the only first round upset, he had beaten Ecuador’s Alberto Miño, the no.4 seed and named at no.76 in the world order (13-15, 11-9, 11-6, 16-14).

Now one week later, once again, he emerged the only player to upset the order of merit in the opening round; not quite so dramatic, he accounted for colleague Nils Hohmeier, the no.8 seed, standing at no.260 in the world order. Not only did the 20 year old emerge successful, he prevailed in four straight games (11-4, 11-5, 11-8, 11-5).

“It has never been so clear against Nils. I have always had close matches against him. I think it was the tactics, I also tried a little bit in training how to get into the game better with my serve and that worked well against him”. Gerrit Engemann

New names on duty

A third consecutive appearance for both Gerrit Engemann and Nils Hohmeier but there were new names on the scene; Felix Köhler, An Duy Dang, Tobias Slanina, André Bertelsmeier and Kirill Fadeev, members of the German Table Tennis Boarding School were all on duty.

Life was tough but Felix Köhler did extract the first game from Cédric Meissner, the no.7 seed (7-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7); likewise, Kirill Fadeev gave Tobias Hippler, the no.5 seed, more than food for thought (11-7, 11-5, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8).

“The last time I played Felix was two years ago. Since then he has definitely developed very well. I myself played very badly today, it was my worst tournament match here so far. At the beginning I really only served and then didn’t play anymore. In the middle of the second game, I finally started to play with a bit more quality”. Cédric Meissner

New names for a new situation; a total of 16 players as previously but the top two seeds, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Kanak Jha entering play in round two. Also, from the very start matches are best of seven games as opposed to best of five games in prior editions, play taking place over three days, as opposed to two days.

“I prefer to play a total of having to win four games, simply because you have a bit more time to get into the game, even though I had a pretty good start today. I like playing Kirill Fadeev because I know the direction of his play and that helps me to move more; that’s why I’m actually always quite happy when I can play him.” Tobias Hippler

Cédric Meissner (7) by Felix Köhler 7-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7
Omar Assar (3) bt An Duy Dang 11-3, 11-5, 11-6, 11-3
Meng Fanbo (6) bt Tobias Slanina 11-6, 11-3, 11-7, 12-10
Tobias Hippler (5) bt Kirill Fadeev 11-7, 11-5, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8
Qiu Dang (4) bt André Bertelsmeier 11-8, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8
Gerrit Engemann bt Nils Hohmeier (8) 11-4, 11-5, 11-8, 11-5

Quarter Finals
09.30 Qiu Dang (4) v Cédric Meissner (7)
10.15 Kanak Jha (2) v Gerrit Engemann
11.00 Dimitrij Ovtcharov (1) v Tobias Hippler (5)
11.45 Omar Assar (3) v Meng Fanbo (6)

10.00 Semi-Final
11.00 Semi-Final
14.00 Final