Top seed Liam Pitchford was knocked out of the WTT Contender Budapest tournament in the quarter-finals by German opponent Kilian Ort.
The tie hinged on a protracted second game in which Pitchford, who lost the first game 11-8, held five game points including three at 10-7, but was unable to convert any of them. He took his timeout at 10-9, but that did not help either and he ultimately ended up losing the game 16-14.
His opponent, world ranked 198 but by now exuding confidence, pulled away to take the third game and seal a place in the semi-finals.
Pitchford said: “It wasn’t great today, but I came here to get some matches and I wasn’t expecting a lot of myself as I’ve been low on confidence recently. It played a couple of okay matches and at least it’s matches under my belt.”
Result
Men’s Singles
Quarter-final
Kilian Ort (GER) bt Liam Pitchford 3-0 (11-8, 16-14, 11-3)