England’s hopes were hit hard at the ITTF Pro Tour Swedish Open in Stockholm with in-form teenager Liam Pitchford suffering three successive defeats as his burnout showed.
Pitchford had flown from the INTERSPORT European Championships in Poland to Germany where he played in the Bundesliga, before flying to Sweden to compete here.
It proved too much in one go for the aspiring 18-year-old who fell to defeats in the men’s singles, doubles and boys under 21s.
The English hopes lie instead with the experienced Andrew Baggaley and ever-improving Daniel Reed in the men’s singles.
There were very few good shock results for the English in Stockholm but Reed pulled off a fine shock with a 4-2 victory over world number 164 Jesus Cantero from Spain in order to reach the first round.
Baggaley, meanwhile, had a more straight-forward 4-2 victory over Fabian Akerstrom (287) from host nation Sweden to reach yet another first round for the man from Milton Keynes.
In the women’s draw, there will be five British players in the first round even though all of them have tasted defeat already in the competition. Hannah Hicks, Emily Bates, Alice Loveridge, Naomi Owen and Na Liu will all play in the first round of the Women’s singles.
It won’t be easy for any of the seven Brits in the singles though. They each face players ranked in the world between 12 and 82 so in order for any one of them to get a victory they will have to cause a big upset.
In the under 21 girls event both Bates and Hicks will be in action tomorrow. Hicks progressed undefeated from her group while Bates managed to come through in second place.
In the boys, the defeat of Pitchford left just Darius Knight in the competition to fight for English hopes.
In a day of tough results, the team were compounded by another five defeats in the doubles with only Loveridge and her Indian partner Mallika Bhandarkar recording any victory for Britain.
Selected fixtures:
Men’s singles:
A Baggaley v J Lundqvist (SWE, 54)
D Reed v D Eloi (FRA, 77)
Women’s singles:
E Bates v S Hirano (JPN, 12)
H Hicks v S Beibei (SIN, 20)
A Loveridge v MY Choi (KOR, 82)
L Na v JH Jeon (KOR, 27)
N Owen v W Jiaduo (GER, 17)
Boys under 21s:
D Knight v E Vanrossomme (BEL, 565)
Girls under 21s:
E Bates v MS Kang (KOR, 51)
H Hicks v K Kusinska (POL, 216)
Qualifying results:
Men’s singles:
L Pitchford bt P Hietikko (FIN, 1031) 4-0 (11-9, 11-3, 11-6, 11-9)
D Reed bt J Cantero (ESP, 164) 4-2 (11-9, 4-11, 11-8, 3-11, 12-10, 12-10)
M Yoshimura (JPN, 166) bt L Pitchford 4-2 (11-5, 11-8, 6-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-8)
A Baggaley bt F Akerstrom (SWE, 287) 4-2 (7-11, 11-1, 13-15, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7)
S Gauzy (FRA, 216) bt D Knight 4-2 (16-14, 5-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8)
Women’s singles:
A Loveridge (GGY) bt E Bates 4-1 (12-10, 11-9, 11-3, 11-13, 11-8)
H Hicks bt D Moskovits (SWE, 530) 4-2 (7-11, 11-3, 12-10, 11-7, 10-12, 11-2)
N Owen bt S Her-Lee (NZL, 906) 4-0 (11-3, 11-5, 14-12, 12-10)
E Bates bt S Rask (SWE, u/r) 4-1 (11-9, 11-5, 11-6, 6-11, 11-6)
Under 21s:
Girls:
M Krzewicka (POL, 410) bt E Bates 3-2 (7-11, 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-8)
E Bates bt M Karlsson (SWE, 583) 3-1 (11-8, 11-5, 10-12, 11-9)
H Hicks bt J Jonsson (SWE, 447) 3-1 (12-10, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5)
H Hicks bt L Sandstrom (SWE, 624) 3-0 (11-9, 12-10, 11-4)
A Loveridge (GGY) v J Lund (SWE) (Loveridge disqualified)
A Loveridge (GGY) bt I Soderlund (SWE, 626) 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-4)
Boys:
R Devos (BEL, 486) v G Evans 3-2 (11-8, 5-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-6)
Y Higashi (JPN, 351) bt L Pitchford 3-1 (11-4, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8)
Men’s doubles:
SK Achanta (IND)/ W Henzell (AUS) bt A Baggaley/L Pitchford 3-0 (11-9, 13-11, 11-9)
O Didukh (UKR)/K Skachkov (RUS) bt D Reed/D Knight 3-2 (11-9, 8-11, 11-3, 9-11, 11-4)
Women’s doubles:
M Bhandarkar (IND)/A Loveridge (GGY) bt S Bolenius/P Eriksson (FIN) 3-0 (11-2, 11-8, 11-4)
L Creemers (NED)/K Stefanska (POL) bt E Bates/H Hicks 3-0 (11-7, 11-2, 11-6)
L Creemers (NED)/K Stefanska (POL) bt N Owen/N Liu 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-8)
MY Choi/SA Yoon (KOR) bt A Loveridge (GGY)/M Bhandarkar (IND) 3-0 (11-6, 11-2, 11-5)