by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publication Editor

Presently listed at no.60 on the Men’s World Rankings, Jakub Dyjas recovered from an opening game deficit to beat Brazil’s Hugo Calderano, named at no.18 (14-16, 11-6, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8).

Impressive from Jakub Dyjas, it was the same from Patrick Franziska who beat Jeoung Youngsik in four straight games (11-7, 11-9, 11-8, 14-12) as it was from Bastian Steger who accounted for Korea’s Lim Jonghoon in six games (11-5, 11-3, 11-7, 7-11, 8-11, 11-5). Likewise Ruwen Filus delighted the home fans. He overcame Austria’s Robert Gardos by a similar margin (7-11, 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9).

“He’s very powerful, both forehand and backhand and I couldn’t receive his serves well. We have never played in the past and this is our first encounter and I’m not familiar with his play as well. It’s been four months since I last played internationally because of my wrist injury but I’ve recovered and I am back now. It’s sad that I didn’t make it past the qualification but I will continue to work hard to improve. To my fans out there, my wrist is fine now and I’ll continue fighting in the Swedish Open coming up next. Thank you very much to my fans for your support!” Jeoung Youngsik

“It was very good match, I’m very happy to win. The fourth game was really tight, he had a two point lead all the time until at 10-9 I had match point. I was too eager and missed. I took a “Time Out” and won14-12.” Patrick Franziska

Impressive from the German trio, it was the same from Sweden’s Kristian Karlsson, Japan’s Yuya Oshima and Masataka Morizono. Kristian Karlsson beat India’s Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (11-6, 11-6, 11-2, 11-7), Yuya Oshima accounted for Qatar’s Li Ping (10-12, 12-10, 5-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8); Masataka Morizono overcame Chinese Taipei’s Liao Cheng-Ting (11-4, 11-2, 11-5, 9-11, 10-12, 11-3).