With Liam Pitchford not in action until tomorrow it was a quiet start for the English players at the ITTF Pro Tour in Sweden during the qualifying campaign.
That did not stop Andrew Baggaley, Darius Knight and Danny Reed from all winning their men’s singles opener though.
Knight won comfortably 4-0 while Baggaley and Reed both cruised past their opponents 4-1. All three players will meet tougher players tomorrow for a place in the first round.
None of the English women were able to win in the singles although Hannah Hicks opened her Under 21s campaign with a 3-0 win over Jannika Oksanen of Finland.
In the doubles there were only two British pairs in action with Knight and Reed winning their opening fixture 3-0 against Lau and Rasmussen while Gavin Evans completed a day to forget by falling to a fourth defeat in a row with his New Zealand partner.
Tomorrow should provide more action for the English players with Pitchford, Baggaley, Knight and Reed all hoping to progress in the Men’s while the women hope for a few better turns.
Selected results are displayed below.
Selected results:
Men’s singles:
S Ghosh (IND) bt G Evans 4-1 (5-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-9, 13-11)
D Reed bt F Lambiet (BEL) 4-1 (11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-6)
D Knight bt G Zakladniy (UKR) 4-0 (11-9, 11-4, 11-4, 11-8)
M Karlsson (SWE) bt G Evans 4-1 (11-7, 11-4, 11-9, 15-13)
A Baggaley bt T Lau (DEN) 4-1 (11-8, 11-2, 11-13, 12-10, 11-5)
Women’s s singles:
K Stefanska (POL) bt E Bates 4-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-4, 11-9)
K Stefanska (POL) bt A Loveridge 4-0 (11-2, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7)
S Winter (GER) bt H Hicks 4-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-7, 12-10)
N Liu (IRL) bt H Punnonen (FIN) 4-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-3, 11-6)
I Motsyk (UKR) bt N Liu 4-2 (9-11, 7-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-6, 9-11)
EC Yoo (KOR) bt N Owen 4-3 (10-12, 9-11, 7-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8)
Under 21s:
Boys:
A Sakai (JPN) bt G Evans 3-2 (8-11, 11-2, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9)
Girls:
H Hicks bt J Oksanen (FIN) 3-0 (11-2, 11-5, 14-12)
S Wabik (POL) bt A Loveridge 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-4)
Men’s doubles:
A Sakai/M Yoshimura (JPN) bt J Cordue (NZL)/G Evans 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-5)
D Knight/D Reed bt T Lau/M Rasmussen (DEN)3-0 (11-9, 12-10, 13-11)