by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

Additionally, Lim Jonghoon and Lee Sangsu both emerged successful; Lim Jonghoon caused somewhat of an upset by beating colleague Jeong Sangeun, the no.14 seed (11-8, 11-8, 5-11, 11-4, 12-10); Lee Sangsu, the no.2 seed, as his status advised, accounted for China’s Zhu Linfeng.

Success for Lee Sangsu; but there were some challenging moments. He had to recover from a three games to two deficit and the brink of defeat in the sixth game before emerging successful (4-11, 11-4, 13-11, 10-12, 7-11, 15-13, 11-5).

“The match was very special to me because I had the chance to play against a Chinese player. The sixth game was the most critical. I knew I could win the match after winning the sixth game.” Lee Sangsu

Defeat for Zhu Linfeng; it means that only one Chinese player remains in the Men’s Singles event. Earlier in the day Zhou Qihao beat Denmark’s Jonathan Groth, the no.7 seed, to reserve his second round place (11-8, 12-10, 11-4, 12-10).

Two upsets in the lower half of the draw in the first round of the Men’s Singles event and there was one more but not one of seismic proportions as colleagues met; Kazuhiro Yoshimura beat Yuya Oshima, the no.16 seed in the all Japanese confrontation (11-4, 11-7, 12-10, 9-11, 16-14).

A minor surprise; in the remaining contests, as the day drew to a close, it was success for the higher ranked player. Portugal’s Marcos Freitas, the no.4 seed, beat Germany’s Benedikt Duda (11-8, 4-11, 11-5, 11-8, 15-13), Japan’s Jin Ueda, the no.12 seed, overcame colleague Masaki Yoshida in very much the closest match of the round (12-10, 7-11. 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 13-11).

Meanwhile, not to be upstaged, Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna, the no.13 seed, ended the adventures of Yukiya Uda, like Jin Ueda from Japan (9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-3).

The second round of the Men’s Singles event will be played in entirety on Friday 25th May.