by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

An upset, perhaps not; earlier this year at the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Austrian Open, Fang Bo and Zhou Yu had beaten Hugo Calderano and Gustavo Tsuboi in the final to claim the title.

The end of the road for the Brazilians; there was also one further seeded pair to depart in round one; the combination of Anton Källberg and Kristian Karlsson gained a walk-over in opposition to the second seeded partnership of Germany’s Patrick Franziska and Denmark’s Jonathan Groth.

Otherwise it was success for the leading pairs; Japan being very much to the fore.

Masataka Morizono and Yuya Oshima, the top seeds, beat Hungary’s Tamas Lakatos and Bence Majoros (11-8, 11-7, 11-5); Koki Niwa and Jin Ueda, the no.3 seeds, accounted for Belgium’s Martin Allegro and Florent Lambiet (11-3, 11-5, 11-6).

Success for Japan and there was also success for the host nation; crowned European champions in Herning in 2012, Robert Gardos and Daniel Habesohn, the no.8 seeds, accounted for the Hong Kong partnership formed by Jian Tianyi and Lam Siu Hang (11-9, 12-10, 7-11, 11-4). Defeat for Hong Kong but there was victory; Ho Kwan Kit and Wong Chun Ting, the no.6 seeds, beat Hungary’s Nandor Ecseki and Adam Szudi (11-3, 10-12, 16-14, 11-6).

Meanwhile, in the remaining first round Men’s Doubles matches, India’s Amalraj Anthony and Sathiyan Gnanasekeran, the no.5 seeds, gained a walk-over against Belgium’s Robin Devos and Cédric Nuytinck, the latter injured; Germany’s Ruwen Filus and Ricardo Walther, the no.7 seeds, ended the hopes of Chinese Taipei’s Sun Chia-Hung and Yang Heng-Wei (11-3, 11-8, 10-12, 11-4).

The quarter-finals are scheduled for 10.50am on Friday 22nd September.