by Wade Townsend

Yuya Oshima defeated Marcos Frietas in style tonight, winning in straight games to progress to the quarterfinal of the Men’s Singles at the Seamaster 2017 Australian Open.

“Frietas has such a good serve. Today my receive was good. I could make all types of receive; short, long, chiquita. His receive today wasn’t so strong and I was making good variation between under-spin and topspin serves.” Yuya Oshima

The pair both step off from the table, providing spectacular loop to loop rallies for the audience. Today Oshima had a tactic to get the better of his opponent.

“I could come down on top of the ball, meaning Frietas could only spin the ball up.” Yuya Oshima

The Japanese team kept the momentum going as Kenta Matsudaira came from 1-3 down to defeat Lim Jonghoon (KOR) 4-3.

Known for a block as solid as a brick wall, as the match progressed Matsuidara was playing with an unprecedented level of aggression off both wings of the table. If he can keep playing in this style he could surprise his competitors.

Meanwhile, Simon Gauzy (FRA) brought a stop to Sathiyan Gnanasekaran’s (IND) run, winning in a seven game encounter.

Vladimir Samsonov (BLR) was able to defeat Gao Ning (SGP) in the battle of the veterans. The scoreline was 4-1, however the last game went to 19-17.

“I didn’t want to continue running as he was bringing so many balls back!” Vladimir Samsonov

Vladi has realistic expectations at this event, and he may be the veteran here on the Gold Coast, but don’t write him off for the title.

“You don’t come here to lose. If you come to a tournament you do everything you can to win.” Vladimir Samsonov

Head here for the full results from the Men’s Singles round of 16.