Liam Pitchford turned despair into hope for hundreds of home supporters with a fantastic comeback win to move into the Men’s Singles quarter-finals at WTT Feeder Manchester, where he was later joined by Paul Drinkhall.
Having lost the first two games 11-7 and 13-11, the second game ended controversially for Pitchford as he received a yellow-red to add to his earlier yellow.
That meant he started the third game 0-1 down, and when that become 1-4, the crowd may have feared the worst.
But Pitchford dug deep and found an inner steel, taking six of the next seven points and then four more in a row to reduce the deficit.
From then on, there looked to be only one winner as Pitchford drew strength from the reinvigorated spectators, while Walther seemed to visibly wilt, especially in the last as Pitchford completed a 3-2 (7-11, 11-13, 11-6, 11-6, 11-3) victory.
His next opponent is Italian Matteo Mutti (WR 190), who came through the qualifying rounds and in his last-16 clash knocked out the fifth seed, Steffen Mengel (WR 59) of Germany, 3-2 (10-12, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6, 11-6). The match is at 7.20pm.
Paul Drinkhall followed Pitchford into the last eight with a composed performance against Marcos Madrid (WR 72) of Mexico.
He was behind for much of the first, but saved four game points from 10-6, before missing two chances of his own. Another saved GP followed, but Madrid finally took a chance and won it 15-13.
But that was pretty much as good as it got for Madrid, who had beaten fourth seed Tiago Apolonia in the first round. From 6-6 in the second game, Drinkhall won five successive points and he was never behind in either of the third or fourth, which he won 6 and 7 to set up a quarter-final against Elias Ranefur of Sweden.
That match is at the same time as Pitchford’s – 7.20pm – and the two winners will face each other in Sunday’s semi-finals, raising the tantalising prospect of a clash between England’s top two.
Unfortunately, there will not be a third English representative in the last eight as Tom Jarvis could not bridge the gap to second seed and world No 29 Anders Lind.
He played well, and when he won three in a row from 8-8 to take the second match, he was well in with a chance of progressing.
There was never much in the third, which Lind took 11-9 on his second game point, but the Dane led throughout the fourth, opening up a 5-0 lead which proved to be enough of a buffer when Jarvis worked his way back into the game – Lind eventually winning it 11-8 on his third match point.
The third seed is also safely through, Alvaro Robles of Spain dismissing Florent Llambiet of Belgium in three straight.
In the Women’s Singles, Sophie Earley could not repeat her momentous victory of yesterday, when she ousted fourth seed Britt Eerland.
Up against Italy’s Debora Vivarelli (WR 139), the English youngster (WR 309) again gave everything and threatened an upset when she led 2-1, having blitzed the second 11-3 and saved four game points en route to winning the third 14-12.
However, her opponent went through the gears in the fourth and fifth, which she won for the loss of a combined seven points to move into the quarters and end British involvement.
Top seed Lily Zhang continued her good form as she defeated Dora Madarasz of Hungary 3-1 (11-7, 10-12, 13-11, 11-3), but second seed Kim Nayeong of South Korea was defeated by Rachel Moret, who ran out a fine 3-2 (4-11, 11-6, 2-11, 12-10, 11-9) winner.
Results
Women’s Singles
Round of 16
Debora Vivarelli (ITA) bt Sophie Earley 3-2 (11-8, 3-11, 12-14, 11-3, 11-4)
Men’s Singles
Round of 16
Liam Pitchford bt Ricardo Walther (GER) 3-2 (7-11, 11-13, 11-6, 11-6, 11-3)
Paul Drinkhall bt Marcos Madrid (MEX) 3-1 (13-15, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7)
Anders Lind (DEN) bt Tom Jarvis 3-1 (11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8)
Pitchford and Drinkhall storm into singles quarters at WTT Feeder Manchester Table Tennis England.
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