Sam Walker is England’s sole survivor at the Belgium Open, but only after Andrew Baggaley was pipped in a remarkable match and Tom Jarvis stretched the top seed.
Walker made good progress through his first two matches of the competition without dropping a set, though he was pushed at times by Russia’s Vildan Gadiev (WR #236) in the last 64 and then Yuta Tanaka (#246) of Japan in the last 32.
Walker, seeded 15, next faces Qiu Dang of Germany (#161) in the round of 16 on Friday afternoon.
Baggaley came through his last-64 match 4-1 against world No 150 Felipe Olivares of Chile, seeded 22 here, and also faced a Japanese opponent in the last 32.
When Takeru Kashiwa took the first three games, it looked all over, but Baggeley fought back to level in three close games, only to then lose the decider 11-8.
Tom Jarvis, into the last 64 by virtue of a lucky loser position, took on top seed Omar Assar of Egypt, ranked No 39 in the world. The young Englishman twice led, but his lofty – in ranking and stature – opponent took the fifth and sixth games to go through.
Jarvis was also beaten in the Under-21 Men’s Singles by an opponent from Chinese Taipei.
The involvement of the England women is over after Tin-Tin Ho was eliminated in the last 64 of the Women’s Singles and Maria Tsaptsinos went out in the last 32 of the under-21 Women’s Singles.
Ho lost in six to world No 290 Filippa Bergand of Sweden, while Tsaptsinos went out 3-1 to Shin Yubin of South Korea, ranked 60 places below her at 279.
Results
Men’s Singles
Round of 64
Omar Assar (EGY) bt Tom Jarvis 4-2 (4-11, 11-6, 3-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5)
Sam Walker v Vildan Gadiev (RUS) 4-0 (11-8, 12-10, 11-6, 17-15)
Andrew Baggaley bt Felipe Olivares (CHI) 4-1 (8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-6, 11-9)
Round of 32
Walker bt Yuta Tanaka (JPN) 4-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-9, 12-10)
Takeru Kashiwa (JPN) bt Baggaley 4-3 (11-4, 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8)
Women’s Singles
Round of 64
Filippa Bergand (SWE) bt Tin-Tin Ho 4-2 (11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7)
Under-21 Men’s Singles
Round of 64
Li Hsin-Yang (TPE) bt Tom Jarvis 3-1 (11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 11-1)
Under-21 Women’s Singles
Round of 32
Shin Yubin (KOR) 279 bt Maria Tsaptsinos 219 3-1 (11-4, 11-13, 11-5, 11-3)