Liam Pitchford went out of the Singapore Smash at the hands of Truls Moregard, while he and Paul Drinkhall lost their double clash with China’s Lin Gaoyuan & Ma Long.
Pitchford had his chances against Sweden’s world No 14 Moregard. He led the first game 4-1, at which point he was warned about his service action by the umpire.
Whether or not this affected his performance, he then saw a 6-2 lead turn into a 6-11 deficit as Moregard was first on the board.
The second was tight at 9-9, but although Pitchford saved two game points he was unable to save the third.
The Englishman was always ahead in the third and brought up two game points at 10-8, only for Moregard to save those. Pitchford then saved a match point, but Moregard took his second chance to book a last-16 clash against second seed Wang Chuqin of China.
Earlier, in the doubles last 16, Pitchford & Drinkhall also had a good level against their Chinese opponents and had glimmers of chances at 5-3 up in the second and 8-6 up and 9-9 in the third. However, they eventually lost in three (7, 7, 9).
Results
Men’s Singles
Round of 32
Truls Moregard (SWE) bt Liam Pitchford 3-0 (11-6, 13-11, 13-11)
Men’s Doubles
Round of 16
Lin Gaoyuan & Ma Long (CHN) bt Pitchford & Drinkhall 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-9)
Pitchford and Drinkhall exit Singapore Smash Table Tennis England.
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