by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Mallika Bhandarkar was beaten by Ukraine’s Ganna Farladanska, the no.7 seed (11-7, 11-13, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5); Giorgia Piccolin experienced defeat against Egypt’s Dina Meshref (11-3, 11-3, 11-5, 11-7).

Defeat for Giorgia Piccolin and Mallika Bhandarkar but both could be satisfied with the fact that they had progressed further than ever before in a tournament of such a calibre.

Notably it was the first time on the international scene that Mallika Bhandarkar and Ganna Farladanska had met; for Giorgia Piccolin and Dina Meshref, it was their second such encounter. In 2016 they had confronted each other in the qualification stage of the Women’s Singles event on the ITTF World Tour in Hungary; on that occasion Dina Meshref had prevailed in six games.

Success as anticipated for Ganna Farladanksa and Dina Meshref; it was the same for Hungary’s Szandra Pergel and Russia’s Olga Kulikova.

Szandra Pergel, the no.2 seed, beat India’s Krittwika Roy, the no.8 seed (11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5); Olga Kulokova, the no.4 seed, ended the hopes of Bernadett Balint, the no.5 seed and like Szandra Pergel competing in the colours of Hungary (12-10, 11-5, 11-4, 12-10).

At the semi-final stage Ganna Farladanska meets Olga Kulikova, Szandra Pergel opposes Dina Meshref.

The concluding day, Sunday 13th August, commences with the Women’s Singles semi-finals, matches start at 10.00am.