Paul Drinkhall was unable to join Liam Pitchford in the main draw of the WTT Star Contender in Doha as he was defeated by Romania’s Hunor Szocs in the final qualifying round.

Drinkhall went down in four close games to the world No 132 as he looked for his third straight win.

Earlier in the competition, Drinkhall had gained revenge for his defeat by Austria’s Andreas Levenko in last week’s WTT Contender tournament. Again, their first qualifying round tie went to a decider, Drinkhall taking the final set 12-10.

The second qualifying round saw a more routine 3-0 victory over world No 63 Mizuki Oikawa of Japan.

The main draw begins with the last-64 ties on Monday. Pitchford has received a bye into the last 32, where he will face Kristian Karlsson of Sweden (WR 29), who beat world No 33 Tomislav Pucar of Croatia 3-1 (11-8, 7-11, 14-12, 11-5). The match is at 1.15pm UK time on Tuesday. Liam is on table 3 – click here to watch the match on the WTT YouTube channel.

In the women’s singles, Tin-Tin Ho was beaten in the first qualifying round by Izabela Lupulesku of Serbia, who is ranked four places below her at 97.

Results

Men’s Singles
First qualifying round
Paul Drinkhall bt Andreas Levenko (AUT) 3-2 (11-5, 8-11, 11-3, 10-12, 12-10)

Second qualifying round
Drinkhall bt Mizuki Oikawa (JPN) 3-0 (11-7, 14-12, 11-8)

Third qualifying round
Hunor Szocs (ROU) bt Drinkhall 3-1 (11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 12-10)

Women’s Singles
First qualifying round
Izabela Lupulesku (SRB) bt Tin-Tin Ho 3-0 (11-8, 11-5, 11-7)