Liam Pitchford & Paul Drinkhall are into the semi-finals of the Men’s Doubles at the Qatar Open, while Liam reached the singles last 16 after an eventful end to his opening match.
The doubles pair, fresh from their triumph at the Mark Bates Ltd National Championships at the weekend, saw off Lam Siu Hang & Ng Pak Nam of Hong Kong in four games to move into the last four, where they will face another pair from Hong Kong, second seeds Ho Kwan Kit & Wong Chun Ting.
The match is at 12.50pm UK time on Friday on Table 2 – click here to watch live (registration required).
The winners will face a leading Chinese pair in the final – either Ma Long & Xu Xin or Fan Zhendong & Wang Chuqin.
Earlier, Pitchford & Drinkhall brought up a routine 3-0 win over Qatari pair Mohammed Abdulwahhab & Ahmad Khalil Al-Mohannadi. Click here to watch Pitchford & Drinkhall v Abdulwahhab & Al-Mohannadi (registration required).
Pitchford, seeded 15th, was up against Alvaro Robles of Spain in the last 32 on Thursday and led 2-0 and 3-1 before two key incidents in the fifth and sixth sets. In the fifth, Pitchford led 10-9 but missed his match point and saw Robles take the next two points as well to claim the game.
Pitchford put this behind him to bring up two more match points at 10-8 in the sixth but, on the first of them, a high return from Robles appeared to hit the side of the table. However, the umpires ruled that it had hit the top edge and gave the point to Robles.
Pitchford was not so sure, but had no choice but to accept the decision. He took his time out and, mind cleared, won the next point to confirm victory.
Click here to watch Pitchford v Robles (registration required).
Pitchford will next play Vladimir Samsonov (WR 27), who beat fourth seed Lin Gaoyuan of China in a decider. The match is on Friday at 4pm UK time but is not on a televised table.
Results
Men’s Singles
Round of 32
Liam Pitchford bt Alvaro Robles (ESP) 4-2 (11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-9)
Men’s Doubles
Round of 16
Pitchford & Drinkhall bt Mohammed Abdulwahhab & Ahmad Khalil Al-Mohannadi (QAT) 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-4)
Quarter-finals
Pitchford & Drinkhall bt Lam Siu Hang & Ng Pak Nam (HKG) 3-1 (11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 11-5)