by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Focused, determined, he recovered from a two games to nil deficit to beat the Czech Republic’s Pavel Sirucek (8-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-9, 12-10); the win coming after the Nordic country had experienced two agonising defeats.

Mattias Karlsson, the no.16 seed, had lost to the Slovakian defender, Wang Yang in an agonising seven games (11-9, 9-11, 11-13, 11-5, 12-10, 12-14, 11-4); soon after Jens Lundqvist has suffered at the hands of Japan’s 14 year old Tomokazu Harimoto, the no.11 seed, in a similar fashion (11-4, 9-11, 9-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-8).

“I’m exhausted, in the sixth game instead of defending I attacked with forehand top spin; I was just too tired to do that in the seventh. I led 4-3 then 9-4 as Mattias made mistakes. I’m so tired, my legs ache.” Wang Yang.

Heavy defeats are painful, close defeat are even more painful; that pain was reduced by Kristian Karlsson.

“Pavel played well, he received my service well and he was good in the rallies. He is very powerful; as the match progressed I received service better and that changed things in my favour.” Kristian Karlsson

In round two, in the lower half of the draw Koki Niwa meets Wang Yang, Kristian Karlsson opposes Fang Bo. Meanwhile, Kenta Matsudaira plays Jonathan Groth, Tomokazu Harimoto confronts Xu Xin.

The matches will be played on Friday 17t November.