England No. 1 Liam Pitchford will face China’s Yu Ziyang in the first knock-out round of the ITTF World Tour Hungarian Open – and you can watch him live.
The match will take place on Table 1 at 3.20pm today and be shown on the ITTF’s digital streaming platform itTV.
Pitchford joins the last 32 battling for the big prize in Budapest today after being seeded straight through to the knockout rounds. He is seeded eighth in the competition
He is the only English player left in the singles after Paul Drinkhall, Sam Walker, David McBeath, Tom Jarvis and Maria Tsaptsinos were knocked out on Monday.
Yesterday, all English players were also knocked out of the doubles.
Drinkhall & Walker were eliminated in Preliminary Round 1 after a 3-0 defeat to France’s Tristan Flore & Emmanuel Lebesson.
Pitchford and partner Cedric Nuytinck (BEL) progressed to Round 2 after a 3-0 win over Aviv Ben-Ari (ISR) & Luka Mladenovic (LUX), but were then knocked out by another French duo – Alexandre Robinot & Joe Seyfried. They lost the match 3-1.
Tsaptsinos partnered Wales’ Charlotte Carey in the Women’s Doubles. The pair progressed to Round 2 after a 3-2 win over Poland’s Natalia Bajor & Natalia Partyka, but then exited at the hands of France’s Laura Gasnier & Carole Grundisch. The pair lost 3-1.
To watch Liam live at 3.20pm today, click here.
Results
Men’s Singles
Preliminary Round 1
Adam Szudi (HUN) bt David McBeath 4-3 (11-6, 11-7, 5-11, 9-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5)
Stephane Ouaiche (FRA) bt Tom Jarvis 4-1 (11-4, 5-11, 11-5, 11-9, 15-13)
Paul Drinkhall bt Do Phuong Nam (HUN) 4-0 (13-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-5)
Marek Badowski bt Sam Walker 4-3 (11-5, 11-13, 11-8, 5-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-5
Preliminary Round 2
Tiago Apolonia (POR) bt Paul Drinkhall 4-1 (11-6, 8-11,11-7, 11-7, 11-6)
Women’s Singles
Preliminary Round 1
Alex Galic (SLO) bt Maria Tsaptsinos 4-1 (13-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6)
Mixed Doubles
Preliminary Round 1
Aleksandar Karakasevic & Izabela Lupulesku (SRB) bt Tom Jarvis & Charlotte Carey 3-1 (11-4, 10-12, 11-5, 11-9)
Men’s Doubles
Preliminary Round 1
Tristan Flore & Emmanuel Lebesson (FRA) bt Paul Drinkhall & Sam Walker 3-0 (11-4, 12-10, 11-9)
Liam Pitchford & Cedric Nuytinck (BEL) bt Aviv Ben-Ari (ISR) & Luka Mladenovic (LUX) 3-0 (11-3, 11-0, 11-6)
Preliminary Round 2
Alexandre Robinot & Joe Seyfried (FRA) bt Pitchford & Nuytinck (BEL) 3-1 (11-8, 11-7, 3-11, 11-8)
Women’s Doubles
Preliminary Round 1
Maria Tsaptsinos & Charlotte Carey bt Natalia Bajor & Natalia Partyka (POL) 3-2 (11-8, 11-7, 5-11, 8-11, 11-8)
Preliminary Round 2
Tsaptsinos & Carey bt Laura Gasnier & Carole Grundisch 3-1 (11-5, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8)