Liam Pitchford has been knocked out of the World Championships in the last 32 in China.

The Chesterfield ace was unable to repeat his magnificent performance of the previous round, when he beat world No 20 Tiago Apolonia, as he lost 4-1 to Korea’s Saehyuk Joo.

Pitchford started impressively against the world No 17 and built up a lead in the first, but a run of five points from the Korean saw him take it 12-10. But Pitchford hit back, taking the second 11-9.

But that was as good as it got for the 21-year-old Englishman as Joo went up a gear and pulled ahead to take it 4-1 (12-10, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-8), although Pitchford did save two match points.