by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager
Defeat contrary to expectations for Martin Bentancor, it was the same for his colleagues Alexis Orencel and Matias Guadalupe, as well as for Brazil’s Guilherme Teodoro and Serbia’s Nikola Grujic.
Guilherme Teodoro, the no.9 seed, was beaten by Dimitrije Levajac, the no.12 seed and like Nicola Grujic from Serbia (8-11, 12-10, 11-5, 8-11, 11-3, 11-8); Alexis Orencel, the no.19 seed, suffered at the hands of Chinese Taipei’s Chen Jun-Ting, a player with no current world ranking (11-6, 11-2, 11-4, 11-2).
Likewise, Matias Guadalupe, the no.29 seed, experienced defeat when facing Ukraine’s Andrii Grebeniuk, the 49th name in the order of merit (11-8, 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 13-15, 11-6); Nikola Grujic, the no.22 seed, lost to Rafael Torino, the no.30 seed and like Guilherme Teodoro from Brazil (6-11, 11-4, 11-3, 12-10, 9-11, 11-2).
Defeats but the most agonising of all was that experienced by Borgar Haug, the Norwegian having excelled in the group stage. The no.28 seed, he suffered agonies against Chinese Taipei’s Peng Chih, the no.25 seed, in match that could hardly have been closer (11-8, 15-13, 11-9, 10-12, 9-11, 9-11, 16-14).
Upsets but other than Martin Bentancor, it was success for the leading names.
Austria’s Maciej Kolodziejczyk, the top seed, beat Ukraine’s Anton Limonov, the no.27 seed (11-9, 1-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-6), Japan’s Aoto Asazu, the no.3 seed, overcame Argentina’s Santiago Lorenzo, the no.10 seed (11-9, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7). Similarly, Brazil’s Eduardo Tomoike, the no.4 seed, ended the hopes of Iran’s Arya Amiri, the no.44 seed (11-6, 15-13, 11-13, 2-11, 11-9, 11-5).
Meanwhile, as play commenced in the Boys’ Doubles event, the top seeded duo of Maciej Kolodziejczyk and Arya Amri received a first round bye; the situation somewhat different for the Japanese combination of Aoto Azasu and Takeru Kashiwa, the no.2 seeds. They were called to action and made the ideal start to their campaign; they overcame the host nation’s Felix Ivanco and Kamil Pach (11-8, 11-4, 7-11, 11-5).
Similarly, in the opening round of the Girls’ Doubles event, Lynn Hsien Tia and Amy Wang of the United States, the no.2 seeds, were not called to action. Conversely the formation of Hungary’s Fanni Harasztovich and Croatia’s Andrea Pavlovic, the top seeds, were required to raise their rackets in anger. They beat the Czech Republic pairing of Barbora Polivkova and Jana Vasendova (2-11, 11-5, 11-5, 13-11).
Play in Senec concludes on Sunday 20th May.
