by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
After beating the Czech Republic’s Vlastimil Buben (11-13, 11-3, 11-4, 11-3, 11-7), he was somewhat surprisingly beaten by DPR Korea’s Kim Song Il (13-11, 11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 6-11, 6-11, 11-5); the no.19 seed, Yuki Matsuyama was the leading name on duty in the group, Kim Song Il is listed at no.61 in the Cape Town order of merit.
Furthermore, the Japanese teenager was not the only highest rated player in his group to experience defeat as play on the fifth day commenced.
Irvin Betrand of France, the no.27 seed, overcame Argentina’s Tomas Joffre in his opening contest (11-4, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8), but then experienced defeat at the hands of Italy’s Antonino Amato, the no.55 highest rated player on duty (13-11, 11-9, 11-7, 18-16).
Likewise, further down the order there were defeats for Sweden’s Truls Moregard, Ioannis Sgouropoulos of Greece, Russia’s Denis Ivonin and Denmark’s Andreas Dilling.
Truls Moregard, the no.34 seed, after overcoming Australia’s Ben Gould (11-3, 11-4, 11-9, 11-7), was beaten by England’s Tom Jarvis (6-11, 12-14, 11-6, 5-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-3).
Meanwhile, Ioannis Sgouropoulos, the no.35 seed, experienced defeat when facing Belgium’s Thibaut Darcis; Denis Ivonin, the no.37 seed, suffered at the hands of Germany’s Gerrit Engemann (11-6, 11-4, 5-11, 11-8, 2-11, 11-5), whilst Chinese Taipei’s Tai Ming-Wei overcame Andreas Dilling, the no.40 seed (11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6).
Notably, competing in groups of four players; Tom Jarvis, Thibaut Darcis, Gerrit Engemann and Tai Ming-Wei all recorded victories in their opening contests.
Tom Jarvis beat Brazil’s Gustavo Kodama (11-6, 11-4, 11-9, 11-4), Thibaut Darcis accounted for Korea’s Kim Daewoo (4-11, 11-5, 11-3, 12-10, 8-11, 6-11, 12-10); whilst Gerrit Engemann defeated Canada’s Jason Liu (11-8, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9) and Tai Ming-Wei overcame New Zealand’s Victor Ma (11-6, 11-1, 11-4, 11-4).
Surprises, but other than for Yuki Matsuyama, the leading names on first stage duty, completed their group phase matches in first place. It was for DPR Korea’s Ham Yu Song, Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes and Russia’s Vladimir Sidorenko, two matches played, two matches won.
The top 16 seeds received a direct entry to the main draw and were not required to compete in the group qualification phase.
