by Wade Townsend
It was a busy day in Düsseldorf, so here are the highlights in case you missed the action.
Mu Zi (CHN) caused the biggest upset of the day when she defeated the seventh seed Cheng I-Ching (TPE) 4-2. The unranked Mu had to come through the qualification rounds and will definitely be a wildcard going forward.
Lubomir Pistej (SVK) caused a massive shock in the men’s draw by knocking out the 11th seed, Jeoung Youngisk (KOR), in the first round of the Men’s Singles. Jeoung was seen as a possible threat to the Chinese team and now his half of the draw opens up for a new challenger to emerge.
Cheng-Ting Liao (TPE) defeated 19th seed Kristian Karlsson (SWE) 4-1, as it turned in to a day to forget for Sweden, with Dana Cechova (CZE) overcoming 18th seed Matilda Ekholm (SWE).
In the main hall, Dimitrij Ovtcharov (GER) was given a scare by Lubomir Jancarik (CZE), with the Czech taking the match to a sixth game. However the German ultimately prevailed in front of his home crowd.
Meanwhile, Xu Xin (CHN) found himself in a tight situation against Tomas Polansky (CZE). Polansky took the opening game and led 5-1 in the second. Xu was able to muster a comeback and win that game 11-9. But Polansky wasn’t going anywhere, pushing the match to a sixth game, however Xu took the sixth game 11-9 to win the match.
In a sensational match that has turned heads, Szandra Pergel (HUN) defeated crowd favourite Petrissa Solja (GER) 4-1, while Japan’s Mima Ito, the no.9 seed, was stretched the full seven games distance by Brazil’s Gui Lin.
Will Düsseldorf provided more fireworks on Day 4?
