Daniel Reed remained unbeaten throughout the first two days of the Liebherr 2013 World Championships in Paris, France as he advanced through to the main draws of both the Men’s Singles and Doubles events.
Reed successfully negotiated his qualifying group with back-to-back 4-0 victories before emerging triumphant from a mammoth seven-game encounter with Bulgaria’s Petyo Krastev in the first preliminary round.
Despite trailing 2-0, the player from Hutton Rudby recovered to win the next two games, including one 11-0, to level the scores. Although he went onto trail once more at 3-2, a confident display in the sixth and seventh games ensured his progression to the second, and final, preliminary round.
After exhausting a lot of energy to make this stage, Reed still had enough to overcome Romanian Champion Hunor Szocs. Again, level at 2-2, Reed kicked on in an important 14-12 fifth game before wrapping up the win 11-5 in the sixth.
There was also success for the Cleveland star in the doubles alongside Andrew Baggaley. The duo began with two relatively straightforward wins against Thai and Colombian opponents before performing well to beat the Argentinean pair of Liu Song and Gaston Alto.
With Baggaley and Pitchford already seeded for the main draw of the singles, it was down to 18-year-old Sam Walker to join Reed in qualifying via the preliminary rounds.
Despite several good performances he ultimately fell short against Admir Duranspahic (BIH, 249) in the final qualifying round having already secured a big win over Denmark’s Kasper Sternberg (215) in a dramatic seven-game match.
In the Women’s singles there was disappointment for Karina Le Fevre who was beaten in her group by Offiong Edem (NGR, 335) but success for Kelly Sibley, who joined the seeded Joanna Parker in the main draw, with confident 4-0 victories over both Zulfiniso Saidalimova (TJK, 1346) and Eva Jurkova (SVK, 436).
Parker and Sibley will also compete in the first round of the Women’s Doubles where they have been drawn against Hungary’s Petra Lovas and Szandra Pergel – a tough prospect, but considerably easier than Baggaley and Reed’s opponents in the form of Chinese duo Wang Liqin and Zhou Yu.
Finally, the first round of the Mixed Doubles saw results echo its title with success for Pitchford and Sibley but defeat for Walker and Parker as the qualification stages came to a close on Tuesday night.
Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles draws appear at the bottom with a favourable draw for Pitchford against Damien Eloi (FRA, 91) but a nightmare draw for Sibley against world number 2 Liu Shiwen (CHN).
Liebherr 2013 World Championship Results
Men’s Singles Qualification:
Group 36:
Daniel Reed (234) bt Dias Sarsembayev (KAZ, 1262) 4-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-2, 11-3)
Daniel Reed (234) bt Enkhbaatar Damdin (MGL, 1727) 4-0 (11-3, 11-1, 11-1, 11-2)
Group 99:
Sam Walker (502) bt John Cordue (NZL, 659) 4-0 (11-6, 11-6, 13-11, 11-7)
Sam Walker (502) bt Taha Al-Mahaqeri (YEM, 1797) 4-0 (11-4, 11-7, 11-5, 11-3)
1st Preliminary Round:
Sam Walker (502) bt Kasper Sternberg (DEN, 215) 4-3 (13-11, 5-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 4-11, 11-3)
Daniel Reed (234) bt Petyo Krastev (BUL, 684) 4-3 (14-16, 7-11, 11-9, 11-0, 8-11, 11-5, 11-6)
2nd Preliminary Round:
Admir Duranspahic (BIH, 249) bt Sam Walker (502) 4-2 (11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 11-4)
Daniel Reed (234) bt Hunor Szocs (ROU, 217) 4-2 (6-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-13, 14-12, 11-5)
Women’s Single Qualification:
Group 8:
Kelly Sibley (229) bt Zulfiniso Saidalimova (TJK, 1346) 4-0 (11-2, 13-11, 11-6, 12-10)
Kelly Sibley (229) bt Amina Lukaaya (UGA, 1360) walkover
Group 29:
Offiong Edem (NGR, 335) bt Karina Le Fevre (1274) 4-1 (11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 11-6)
Karina Le Fevre (1274) bt Lynda Loghraibi (ALG, 1169) 4-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-6, 11-5)
1st Preliminary Round:
Kelly Sibley (229) bt Eva Jurkova (SVK, 436) 4-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7)
Men’s Doubles:
1st Preliminary Round:
Liam Pitchford/Sam Walker bt Anthony Corbin/Dexter St Louis (TRI) 3-2 (12-14, 11-4, 13-11, 8-11, 11-6)
Andrew Baggaley/Daniel Reed bt Max Poungsri/Padasak Tanviriyavechakul (THA) 3-1 (11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5)
2nd Preliminary Round:
Tomas Tregler/Pavel Sirucek (CZE) bt Liam Pitchford/Sam Walker 3-2 (13-11, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7)
Andrew Baggaley/Daniel Reed bt Alexander Echavarria/Joaquin Villegas (COL) 3-0 (11-8, 12-10, 11-5)
3rd Preliminary Round:
Andrew Baggaley/Daniel Reed bt Gaston Alto/Liu Song (ARG) 3-1 (11-7, 12-10, 6-11, 11-9)
Mixed Doubles:
First round:
Thiago Monteiro/Ligia Silva (BRA) bt Sam Walker/Joanna Parker 4-2 (8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 4-11, 12-10, 11-5)
Liam Pitchford/Kelly Sibley bt Jan Zibrat/Manca Fajmut (SLO) 4-1 (11-9, 10-12, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7)
Fixtures:
Men’s Singles:
Liam Pitchford (119) v Damien Eloi (FRA, 91) Wed 14:00
Daniel Reed (234) v Kenta Matsudaira (JPN, 58) Wed 15:30
Andrew Baggaley (145) v Kim Minseok (KOR, 36) Wed 16:15
Women’s Singles:
Joanna Parker (138) v Irene Ivanca (GER, 56) Wed 11:45
Kelly Sibley (229) v Liu Shiwen (CHN, 2) Wed 13:15
Men’s Doubles:
Andrew Baggaley/Daniel Reed vs Wang Liqin/Zhou Yu (CHN) Thurs 12:45 table 2 (itTV)
Women’s Doubles:
Joanna Parker/Kelly Sibley vs Petra Lovas/Szandra Pergel (HUN) Wed 20:30
Mixed Doubles:
Liam Pitchford/Kelly Sibley vs Ovidiu Ionescu/Bernadette Szocs Wed 09:45