Darius Knight lost a thrilling singles round of 64 match in Almeria, Spain to end his run at the first World Tour event he’s attended since the Senior National Championships in March.
Knight had to face world number 115, Hiromitsu Kasahara, from Japan in the first round after the Londoner’s brilliant win yesterday against Kasahara’s compatriot Yoshiyuki Kato.
However, the run came to an exciting end when Knight could not overturn a 3-1 deficit against the Japanese player.
Knight fell 2-0 behind when Kasahara took both the first two games 11-7 but the England number 3 hit back to win the third 11-6. It seemed the match was all-but sealed when Kasahara stormed home in the fourth 11-4 to take a commanding 3-1 lead.
Battersea-born Knight then stepped up a gear to fightback to 3-3 when he took both the fifth and sixth games 11-8, forcing a seventh game decider.
In the end the challenge was just too much as Kasahara raced clear in the final game before eventually winning the match with a dominant 11-1 game.
Results:
Round of 64:
Hiromitsu Kasahara (JPN, 115) bt Darius Knight 4-3 (11-7, 11-7, 6-11, 11-4, 8-11, 8-11, 11-1)