England’s involvement in the Swedish Open is over as Liam Pitchford was knocked out of the singles in the last 32 and then lost in the last 16 of the doubles with Paul Drinkhall.

English No 1 Pitchford twice came from a set down to Italy’s Mihai Bobocica, only to lose 4-2 (5-11, 11-8, 11-13, 11-8, 8-11, 4-11).

He had earlier withstood a comeback from 2-0 down by World No 88 Zhikang Wu in Stockholm to win 4-2 (11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 14-12) in the last 64.

But Bobocica, ranked No 72 in the world was in good form, having earlier upset world No 19 Bastian Steger of Germany 4-1 in the last 64.

Pitchford and Drinkhall were then beaten 3-1 in the doubles by Swedish duo Par Gerell and Jens Lundqvist – 9-11, 11-9, 3-11, 9-11.

Paul Stimpson
November 14, 2014