by Ian Marshall, Editor

The teenager was the star of the show.

Men’s Singles

…………Ivor Ban, no current men’s world rankings, beat both Belgium’s Laurens Devos (11-5, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7) and Italy’s Marco Rech Daldosso (11-7, 11-9, 2-11, 12-10) to emerge the only player guaranteed a group first place.

…………Japan’s Yuki Hirano and Chinese Taipei’s Peng Wang-Wei, the top two names on qualification duty, both made impressive starts. Yuki Hirano beat Italy’s Gabriele Piciulin (11-2, 11-7, 11-8); Peng Wang-Wei accounted for Chile’s David Valenzuela (11-3, 11-4, 11-9)

Women’s Singles

…………Against the odds, the host nation’s Klara Cakol and Russia’s Ekaterina Chernyavskaya, alongside the Chinese Taipei’s duo of Tsai Yu-Chin and Huang Yi-Hua, all completed their initial stage matches unbeaten and thus secured main draw places. All started the day the lowest ranked players in their respective groups,

…………Leading names on duty in the qualification stage all made successful starts. Puerto Rico’s Melanie Diaz beat Sweden’s Caroline Tanska (15-13, 11-7, 11-2), Austria’s Karoline Mischek accounted for India’s Pooja Sahasrabudhe (11-5, 11-7, 11-5).

Under 21 Men’s Singles

…………Ivor Ban, no global status, caused a major opening round upset; he beat Slovakia’s Adam Brat (11-3, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8).

…………Japan’s Takeru Kashiwa caused the biggest first round surprise; the no.41 seed, he accounted for Germany’s Nils Hohmeier, the no.6 seed (9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8).

Under 21 Women’s Singles

…………Sweden’s Christina Källberg caused the biggest upset, she beat Turkey’s Ozge Yilmaz (8-11, 11-3, 13-11, 11-6), the fourth highest ranked player in qualification stage duty.

…………Chinese Taipei’s Su Pei-Ling, Japan’s Haruna Ojio and Russia’s Anastasia Kolish, the leading three names in the qualification tournament all secured group first places in their groups and the progressed to the main draw.