by Ian Marshall, Editor
Yuto Kizukuri, the top seed, reserved his place in the round of the last eight by beating colleague Masaki Takami, the no.12 seed (11-8, 11-4, 10-12, 11-5); similarly Darko Jorgic, the no.2 seed, progressed courtesy of success in opposition to Slovakia’s Samuel Kaluzny, the no.26 seed (7-11, 11-2, 11-6, 11-7).
Impressive performances but they were upstaged by their colleagues; Romania suffering at the hands of Koyo Kanamitsu, the no.14 seed and Yuki Matsuyama, the 18 seed.
In the opening round, Yuki Matsuyama beat Rares Sipos, the no.3 seed, prior to reserving his quarter-final place courtesy of success in opposition to Germany’s Tobias Hippler, the no.13 seed (11-7, 11-5, 13-11). One round later, Koyo Kanamitsu ended the hopes of Cristian Pletea, the no.4 seed (11-5, 1-11, 12-10, 11-5).
Outstanding form from Koyo Kanamitsu and Yuki Matsuyama; it was the same from Deni Kozul, the no.11 seed. He reserved his quarter-place courtesy of success against Poland’s Tomasz Kotowski, the no.24 seed, prior to accounting for a player in form. He beat China’s Xu Haidong, the no.30 seed, a player whose rating belies his playing level. In the opening round had beaten Poland’s Marek Badowski, the no.7 seed and the previous week had been the runner up in Bulgaria.
Surprise outcomes but similar to Yuto Kizukuri and Darko Jorgic, there were no such problems for Austria’s Andreas Levenko, the no.5 seed, nor for Aliaksandr Khanin of Belarus, the no.6 seed. Likewise, Sweden’s Truls Moregard, the no.8 seeds, progressed.
Andrea Levenko beat Germany’s Nils Hohmeier, the no.6 seed (11-6, 8-11, 11-4, 12-10), to reserve his last eight place; similarly, Aliaksandr Khanin, the no.6 seed, accounted for Denmark’s Anders Lind, the no.9 seed (8-11, 11-4, 11-13, 11-5, 11-9), while Truls Moregard ended the hopes of Chinese Taipei’s Lai Chi-Chien, the no.27 seed (11-8, 11-9, 13-15, 16-14).
At the quarter-final stage, Yuto Kizukuri plays Deni Kozul, Andreas Levenko opposes Koyo Kanamitsu; in the adjacent half of the draw it is Yuki Matsuyama versus Aliaksandr Khanin, Darko Jorgic versus Truls Moregard.
The matches will be played later in the day.
