Sam Walker is through to the last 32 of the WTT Feeder Olomouc in Czechia, but there were defeats for Paul Drinkhall and Tom Jarvis.
Walker, currently ranked at 206, was up against Andrei Istrate of Romania (WR 171) and moved nicely into a 2-0 lead.
His opponent hit back to take the third and fought hard in the fourth, closing from 3-8 to 7-8 before Walker took his timeout. He won the next point but saw his opponent again hit back to level at 9-9. However, the Englishman played two positive points to clinch victory.
He next plays Portugal’s Joao Geraldo (WR 46), the fifth seed. The match is scheduled on Table 2 at 11.20am UK time on Friday – click here to watch live on the WTT YouTube channel.
Jarvis was up against Lubomir Jancarik of the host nation, at 98 ranked 62 places higher then him. Jarvis was 4-1 down in the first but came roaring back to win it 11-6.
The second proved pivotal. Jarvis was only in front at 6-5 but saved three game points at 10-7 and two more at 11-10 and 12-11 before his opponent finally claimed the game.
Jarvis led the third 7-3, having won six points in a row, but then saw his opponent go on a run of eight successive points to move in front. In the fourth, Jarvis led 6-4 and then fought back to 9-9 after Jancarik had taken four in a row. But the Czech won the next two points to move through.
Drinkhall was last on, against Huang Yan-Cheng of Chinese Taipei, ranked 16 places below him at 105. The England No 2 was only in front for one point across the first two games, though they were close.
The third saw Drinkhall make the running and bring up two game points at 10-8. He had two more, at 11-10 and 13-12, either side of saving a match point. But Huang then took the two points he needed to win 15-13.
In the Men’s Doubles, Drinkhall & Walker saw their Hungarian opponents recover from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in the first qualifying round. The English pair led 8-5 in the fourth and it was 9-9 in the decider, but that was as close as they got to closing it out.
Jarvis & Martin Allegro of Belgium were seeded into the round of 16, but fell in four games to Xue Fei & Zhou Kai of China.
Results
Men’s Singles
Round of 64
Lubomir Jancarik (CZE) bt Tom Jarvis 3-1 (6-11, 14-12, 11-7, 11-9)
Sam Walker bt Andrei Istrate (ROU) 3-1 (11-6 11-9, 9-11, 11-9)
Huang Yan-Cheng (TPE) bt Paul Drinkhall 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 15-13)
Men’s Doubles
Qualifying round 1
Tamas Lakatos & David Szantosi (HUN) bt Paul Drinkhall & Sam Walker 3-2 (5-11, 4-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-9)
Round of 16
Xue Fei & Zhou Kai (CHN) bt Tom Jarvis & Martin Allegro (BEL) 3-1 (11-6, 5-11, 11-6, 11-2)
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