by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
The effect is that for several qualifiers, quarter-final places are assured as those who caused upsets one day earlier meet.
In the Men’s Singles event India’s Sanil Shetty meets Korea’s Cho Seungmin, England’s Paul Drinkhall opposes Frenchman Tristan Flore.
Similarly in the Women’s Singles second round Korean players, who caused opening round upsets are very much in evidence; Choi Hyojoo confronts Japan’s Maki Shiomi; Lee Eunhye faces China’s Wang Manyu. Likewise, China’s Zhang Qiang plays Miyu Maeda, also from Japan.
Undoubtedly Wang Manyu, having been the runner up earlier in the year in Qatar and Zhang Qiang, having ousted Mima Ito in the opening round, start as favourites; the other all qualifiers duels are very much in the balance.
Last eight places in the Women’s Singles event for those who negotiated the early stages guaranteed; the evidence of the opening day suggests two more, both from China, are distinct favourites to progress. Gu Yuting, who beat Miu Hirano, faces Japan’s Honoka Hashimoto, the no.9 seed; Chen Xingtong, the winner in opposition to Kasumi Ishakawa, confronts Singapore’s Yu Mengyu, the no.14 seed.
Testing contests ahead, especially for Japanese players against Chinese opposition and there are two more. Miyu Kato, the no.13 seed, opposes Zhu Yuling, the top seed; Hina Hayata, the no.10 seed, confronts Chen Meng, the no.3 seed. However, Japan is guaranteed at least one player in the last eight of the Women’s Singles event; Yui Hamamoto, the no.15 seed, opposes qualifier Saki Shibata.
Likewise, in the Men’s Singles event, Japan is guaranteed a quarter-final place; in the second round, Jun Mizutani, the top seed, faces Maharu Yoshimura, the no.12 seed, for colleagues, testing adversaries from foreign shores await. Qualifier Masaki Yoshida opposes Sweden’s Mattias Karlsson, the no.9 seed, Kenta Matsudaira, the no.7 seed, confronts Korea’s Lim Jonghoon, also a qualifier; whilst Yuya Oshima, the no.10 seed, faces Portugal’s Marcos Freitas, the no.5 seed.
Notably, in the two remaining second round Men’s Singles matches, qualifiers seek to maintain winning ways. India’s Sathiyan Gnanasekaran meets Frenchman, Simon Gauzy, the no.6 seed; Singapore’s Gao Ning opposes Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus, the no.4 seed.
Meanwhile, in both the Men’s Doubles and Women’s Doubles events, the top seeds enter the arena.
At the quarter-final stage, in the former Korea’s Jang Woojin and Park Ganghyeon meet Australia’s Heming Hu and Yan Xin; in the latter Chen Meng and Zhu Yuling confront Korea’s Choi Hyojoo and Jung Yumi.
The Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles events will be played in entirety on Wednesday 5th July; the Men’s Doubles and Women’s Doubles competitions will be played to the semi-final stage.
