by Simon Daish
Seeded 20th for the draw and eight positions below his British counterpart, the convincing nature of the result is another indication of the bright future that lies ahead for Sipos, who was rarely troubled throughout the course of the match.
The other Romanian to feature during the session was Ovidiu Ionescu, who secured his spot in the main draw by the skin of his teeth earlier in the day. However, the no.6 seed’s progress was halted in the Round of 32.
Holding a commanding 3-1 lead over Lubomir Pistej, but Ionescu failed to make his advantage count as his opponent from Slovakia, seeded ninth, recovered three games on the bounce to turn the match on its head (11-8, 5-11, 10-12, 4-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8).
Two further men’s singles fixtures were contested in the evening, both went according to seeding: Poland’s Jakub Dyjas, no.8 seed, proved too hot to handle for Hungary’s Adam Szudi (11-8, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6), while Spanish no.7 seed Alvaro Robles emerged victorious in his meeting with Ukraine’s Yevhen Pryshchepa (11-7, 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7).
One of the stars of the women’s singles group stage, Slovenia’s Katarina Strazar continues to impress in Guimarães. Taking on the no.10 seed Rachel Moret of Switzerland, no.33 seed Strazar’s resolve was tested early on in the Round of 32 head-to-head but she persevered and was rewarded with an impressive six-game victory (13-11, 17-15, 11-6, 8-11, 3-11, 11-7).
Sweden’s Christina Källberg, no.26 seed, also moves through to the last 16 with her passage coming off the back of a 4-2 win against Serbia’s Sabina Surjan (11-7, 5-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-7), a player seeded six positions above her.
“I was 1:2 in reverse when I realised I had to change something. I started to play much more aggressive and took the control of the match. My forehand worked quite well and it helped a lot.” Christina Källberg
Other notable results from the session include Belarus’ Daria Trigolos prevailing over Spanish no.8 seed Galia Dvorak (11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8), while the ninth seeded entry from France, Yuan Jia Nan accounted for the fifth seed from Italy, Debora Vivarelli (11-5, 5-11, 11-1, 11-5, 13-11).
