by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

The progress of Matias Lorca was on an expected path; he finished in second place in his group, being beaten by Croatia’s unbeaten Pavao Jozic, the top seed (11-5, 13-15, 11-6, 11-6); players finishing in first and second places in each group advanced to the semi-finals.

Similarly, in his group, Cristian Dettoni commenced matters as the second highest rated player; however, he upsets the odds, he remained unbeaten, notably accounting for Croatia’s Vjekoslav Gregorovic, the no.2 seed (11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8).

It was to prove the only reverse for the Croatian; thus he booked a semi-final place where he meets Pavao Jozic. In the opposite half of the draw Matias Lorca faces Cristian Dettoni.

A surprise in Class 6 but not in the remaining Men’s Singles standing categories.

Three groups in the initial phase in Class 7, Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Popov, the top seed and the Czech Republic’s Daniel Horut, the no.2 seed, both emerged in first places in their respective groups as did Slovakia’s Miroslav Jambor, the no.3 seed.

Direct entries to the penultimate round were the outcomes for Mykhaylo Popov and Daniel Horut; for Miroslav Jambor, a quarter-final hurdle had to be overcome. Successfully, he overcame Japan’s Hiromoto Kita (11-7, 14-12, 7-11, 11-1).

Quarter-final success; it was the very same in Class 8 where there were five groups in the first stage. The top four seeds in the guise of Hungary’s Andras Csonka, Poland’s Piotr Grudzien, Belgium’s Marc Ledoux and Marcin Skrzynecki all reserved semi-final places; the one group winner not to advance to the last four was Belgium’s Matthew Loïq. In the round of the last eight, he was beaten by Piotr Grudzien (11-5, 11-6, 12-10).

Success for leading names; in Class 9 and Class 10, where there were two groups in the first stages, the top two seeds duly advanced. In Class 9 Poland’s Pawel Konstantyn and the Czech Republic’s David Pulpan secured semi-final places, as in Class 10 did Ivan Karabec, also from the Czech Republic and Igor Misztal, like Pawel Konstantyn from Poland.

Play in Class 11 will take place in entirety on Friday 8th September.

2017 Czech Para Open: Forthcoming matches and latest results