by Simon Daish
Kristian Karlsson began his Men’s Singles campaign in Budapest with a positive display against qualifier Quentin Robinot and another unseeded player awaits the Swede in the Round of 16.
Forced to negotiate the two-day qualification tournament which preceded the main event Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia heads into the second round with plenty of confidence, as does Kristian Karlsson. The winner will set up a quarter-finals meeting with either Fan Zhendong or Kirill Gerassimenko.
The lower half of the draw sees second seed Chuang Chih-Yuan face Austria’s Stefan Fegerl in what could prove to be a close contest while one of the stars of day one Patrick Franziska will attempt to cause another upset when he meets the no.12 seed Kou Lei.
Mo Zhang has been handed an interesting second round tie in the Women’s Singles draw as the Canadian competitor takes on Women’s Doubles partner Sofia Polcanova.
Seeded 13th and eighth respectively, Mo Zhang and Austria’s Sofia Polcanova are expected to play out a tight duel but who will come out on top and earn a place in the last eight?
Chinese Taipei’s Chen Szu-Yu, seeded fifth, will go head-to-head with Russian defender Polina Mikhailova, however, surely the standout tie of the last 16 sees the players ranked ninth and 10th in the world Hong Kong’s Doo Hoi Kem and Chen Xingtong of China face one another.
The day will commence with doubles action as the remaining partnerships meet at the quarter-finals stage while the semi-finals of both events bring the day to a close.
