Sam Walker missed three match points as he was eliminated from the European Games in a deciding set, while Liam Pitchford also went out in Minsk.

Walker had a real tussle with 10th seed Jonathan Groth of Denmark, trailing 1-0 but leading 2-1 and 3-2 – each game taken by the respective winners with relative ease as 11-8 was the closest scoreline.

The sixth changed that as Walker had match points at 10-8 and 11-10, only for Groth to save them all and take a game point of his own to win it 14-12.

The decider was nip and tuck up to 6-6, when Groth opened up a two-point lead and pulled away to take it 11-7.

Earlier, Pitchford, seeded fourth, was knocked out by Panagiotis Gionis of Greece, ranked 20th in the competition.

After losing the first game, Pitchford was in the next two but just edged out, leaving him facing a 3-0 deficit. He took the fourth with points to spare, but went down 12-10 in the fifth as Gionis took his second match point.

Gionis goes on to face Tomislav Pucar of Croatia, the 12th seed, in the last 16 while Groth will face Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov, seeded three.

Team GB will now have to concentrate on the team event, which begins on Thursday.

Results

Men’s Singles
Round of 32
Panagiotis Gionis (GRE) bt Liam Pitchford 4-1 (11-6, 11-9, 12-10, 6-11, 12-10)
Jonathan Groth (DEN) bt Sam Walker 4-3 (11-4, 4-11, 7-11, 11-5, 8-11, 14-12, 11-7)