by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Impressively straight games verdicts were the order for the defensive art; Honoka Hashimoto, the no.5 seed, overcame colleague, Maki Shiomi, the no.15 seed (11-7, 12-10, 12-10, 11-6), the win coming prior to an equally commanding performance by Han Ying.

The no.2 seed, she showed no charity. A comprehensive win was recorded against Austria’s Sofia Polcanova, the no.14 seed (11-2, 11-6, 11-4, 11-9); a contest that to some extent was a repeat of previous engagements. In 2015 at both the European Games in Baku and the Liebherr European Championships in Ekaterinburg, Han Ying had prevailed in straight games.

Success as seeding predicted; it was the same for Mima Ito and for Georgina Pota. Mima Ito, the no.3 seed, beat Gu Ruochen (11-4, 15-13, 11-9, 11-13, 12-10) and thus ended the hopes of China. One hour later, Georgina Pota, the no.10 seed, was celebrating success, by a similar margin she overcame Japan’s Miyu Maeda (14-12, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-8).

“It was a very tough match, I was a little bit disappointed after the second game because I was leading 6-1; I guess I lost focus a little bit and she played better and better. I am very happy, because it was a really good match, nice rallies and I was fast. In the last few months I felt I was slow. I am really happy that today I played much better.” Georgina Pota

At the quarter-final stage Georgina Pota meets Mima Ito; Honoka Hashimoto opposes Han Ying.

The quarter-final matches in the Women’s Singles event are scheduled to start at 10.00am on Saturday 26th August.