Sam Walker kept up his recent run of good form against Liam Pitchford as he defeated his England team-mate 4-3 in a dramatic match at the Croatia Open.
Having overcome Pitchford in the semi-finals of the PG Mutual Nationals in each of the last two years, Walker again edged it – with both men holding match points as it went all the way to the wire.
Walker took the first two games, but Pitchford fought back to level, as he did again after Walker had taken the fifth. The decider was as close as it gets before Walker managed to take a match point at 13-12.
Walker next faces Germany’s world No 58 Benedikt Duda, the ninth seed, in the last 16 on Friday.
Earlier, Pitchford and Walker had set up their clash with five-game victories over opponents from Chile and Spain respectively in the last 64.
Hard match today at Croatian Open. Never easy playing a teammate, could have gone either way. Disappointed as I had some match balls..
— Liam Pitchford (@liampitchford) May 4, 2017
@liampitchford thanks mate! Got a bit lucky today as well! Good match, could've gone both ways!
— Sam Walker (@SamWalker_tt) May 4, 2017
Results
Round of 64
Liam Pitchford bt Felipe Olivares (CHI) 4-1 (10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8)
Sam Walker bt M Vilchez (ESP) 4-1 (11-7, 11-8, 13-11, 7-11, 11-7)
Round of 32
Walker bt Pitchford 4-3 (11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 14-12)