by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Furthermore, the Korean birthday boy reserved his last eight place in style; the no.4 seed, he accounted for Frenchman, Adrien Mattenet, a player who had been required to negotiate the qualification tournament, in four straight games (11-5, 11-8, 11-7, 12-10).

“Today I created more chances after my service game; the power was there to play offensive as well as defensive when it was needed.  I’m happy with my performance it was much better then yesterday”, Joo Saehyuk after beating Adrien Mattenet

Success and an impressive success, it was the same for another player who harbours decades of experience. Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus, the top seed, gave Poland’s Jakub Dyjas a lesson in control; he beat the 21 year old, a semi-finalist in last year’s Liebherr 2016 European Championships, in five games (11-5, 3-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-5).

“I am very satisfied with my performance today, I played really well and won all of the important points”, Vladimir Samsonov after his win against Jakub Dyjas

Imposing performances but if there were two efforts in the top half of the draw in the second round of the Men’s Singles event that merited such a description, it was those executed by China’s Shang Kun and Lin Gaoyuan; both players who had been required to compete in the qualification tournament.

Shang Kun overpowered colleague, Zhou Yu, the no.10 seed (11-9, 14-12, 12-10, 11-3); Lin Gaoyuan proved a pace to fast for Frenchman, Simon Gauzy, the no.5 seed (11-4, 9-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-8).

“It is the fourth day now that I have been playing. I can feel the rhythm is coming back; I started moving well at the table. It was a great match I anticipated well and I selected the right shots”, Shang Kun after beating Zhou Yu

At the quarter-final stage Lin Gaoyuan meets Joo Saehyuk, Shang Kun opposes Vladimir Samsonov.