Liam Pitchford’s debut in the Europe Top 16 ended in the first round in Montreux today as he was beaten by Simon Gauzy of France.
Pitchford was seeded fourth for the event but was drawn against the highest-ranked player he could have faced in the first round in the shape of the ninth seed.
The pair had met before in high-profile tournaments, Pitchford winning in the World Team Championship quarter-final in 2016 but Gauzy coming out on top in the Rio Olympics – though on both occasions, Pitchford was on the winning team.
But this time the Englishman never really got going as Gauzy controlled most of the match to win it 4-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7).
Not a good day today, just one of those days where nothing clicked for me and I couldn’t get anything going, he played a solid game as well. Sorry I couldn’t go further, gutted about that… https://t.co/bYvMPTcZpA
— Liam Pitchford (@liampitchford) February 2, 2019