A successful first day at the Slovenian Open saw seven English wins and just one defeat as the players looked to pick up where they left off from in Hungary.
There were day one victories for Paul Drinkhall, Joanna Parker, Liam Pitchford, Daniel Reed, Darius Knight and a walkover for Andrew Baggaley with only Chris Doran’s defeat spoiling the English report card.
The wins were of an impressive nature too with only Knight and Parker even dropping a game in their singles encounters.
Late in the day Parker also won her opening doubles match with Romania partner Camelia Postoaca against the Slovenian pair of Tamara Jeric and Ivana Zera. Although this means they now face the daunting prospect of playing China’s Li Xiaoxia and Liu Shiwen in the next round.
While Drinkhall, Reed and Pitchford all won their singles with minimum fuss both Knight and Doran (who were live on itTV) did not reach top gear in their matches.
Doran in particular struggling against Polish opponent Jakob Dyjas with his backhand failing to serve him well enough while Knight’s match with lowly ranked San Marino player Marco Vannucci was lacking the intensity that the Londoner can play with.
Thursday should prove to be a long, busy and climactic day with the qualifying parts of the draw coming to a conclusion and the ‘business end’ of the tournament announcing itself with the top seeds introduced.
There is also one live itTV game on with the doubles match between Baggaley/Pitchford and Andersson/Svensson being played on the televised tables.
For the preview of the Slovenian Open with the full draws, seedings and nationalities of the qualifying rounds attached click here.
Fixtures
08:00 Doran v Jelic
09:30 Doran v Kulpa
12:00 Drinkhall v Horvat
12:00 Baggaley v Jean
12:45 Reed v Jancarik
12:45 Knight v Karlsson
12:45 Pitchford v Zubcic
13:30 Doran v Tsuboi
15:00 Parker v Gyung
15:45 Boy’s pre‐round (one match)
16:30 Men’s singles pre‐rounds
18:00 Women’s doubles round of 32
18:30 Doran/Ben Ari v Gauzy/Robinot
19:00 Baggaley/Pitchford v Andersson/Svensson
19:00 Drinkhall/Kou v Mersi/Manna
19:30 Knight/Reed v Hinse/Ho
20:00 Men’s doubles pre‐round of 32
Results
Men’s Singles
Dyjas bt Doran 4-1 (9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9, 11-5)
Reed bt Persolja 4-0 (11-6, 11-2, 11-2, 11-4)
Knight bt Vannucci 4-1 (11-8, 11-7, 11-8, 11-13, 11-7)
Baggaley bt Ramos (walkover)
Drinkhall bt Leitgeb 4-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-4, 12-10)
Pitchford bt Barardi 4-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-3, 11-9)
Women’s Singles
Parker bt Pavlin 4-1 (11-7, 9-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-8)
Women’s Doubles
Parker/Postoaca bt Jeric/Zera 3-0 (11-6, 11-7, 11-1)