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Victor Bolorunduro
Doha
Qatar's Li Ping, the No. 16 seed, suffered a shocking 1-4 (11-8, 11-6, 11-9, 5-11, 11-5) defeat at the hands of Denmark's Jonathan Groth as the main draw of the 2018 ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open got under way at the impressive Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena in Doha on Thursday.
Ping started the Men's Singles match on a good note, racing to a quick 3-0 lead in the first set before his Danish opponent, whose serves prove to be decisive when it matters the most, slowly warmed his way into the match and took the first game in just under 25 minutes.
The next game almost went the same way with the gangling Dane's impressive serves and smashes proving too hot to handle for the home favourite.
"It was a great match but I'm not happy that I lost today. I made mistakes in the first set which my opponent capitalised on and my serves weren't as expected as well. It is a worthy lesson but the performance was below my expectation," Ping said.
In the other matches of the day, world No. 1 Timo Boll of Germany had a comeback 4-1 (12-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-3, 11-5)win against Chinese Taipei's Yun-Ju Lin to book a round of 16 date against Brazil's Hugo Calderano who accounted for the 4-1 defeat of South Korea's Jonghoon Lim.
Sweden's Mattias Karlsson overcame Frenchman, Simon Gauzy, the No.8 seed (11-3, 11-8, 11-4, 8-11, 11-9), while Similarly, Zhou Yu ended the hopes of Egypt's Omar Assar, the no.14 seed (11-5, 13-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-6).
Meanwhile, India's Sharath Kamal Achanta caused one of the biggest upsets of the day; not only did he beat a seeded player but also he overcame a formidable adversary.
The Indian player beat Japan's Koki Niwa, the No. 5 seed, in five games (8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 14-12, 11-9) to reserve his place in the second round.
In the women's event, China's Wang Yidi, who emerged from the qualifying rounds, was the player to cause the most significant upset of the day.
The runner-up at the La Roche Sur Yon at the 2015 World Junior Championships beat Japan's Mima Ito, one of the tournament's hopefuls, in a closely contested seven-game duel (11-7, 4-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-4).
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09/03/2018
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