by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

A full distance seven games win was the order of the day with Patrick Franziska and Jonathan Groth having to withstand a spirited recovering from last year’s winners, after establishing a three games to one lead (11-6, 12-10, 9-11, 11-3, 14-16, 8-11, 11-3).

Success for one partnership that had struck gold on this year’s ITTF World Tour, for another it was the reverse situation.

Russia’s Alexey Liventsov and Mikhail Paikov, the winners in both Bulgaria and Belgium and no.3 seeds in Budapest, suffered defeat at the hands of Poland’s Jakub Dyjas and Daniel Gorak, the no.6 seeds (11-9, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9).

Two upsets but not in the other two last eight contests; both witnessed success for seeded pairs in opposition to qualifiers. However, for Sweden it was contrasting fortunes.

Kristian Karlsson and Mattias Karlsson, the no.4 seeds, experienced success; for Pär Gerell and Anton Källberg it was defeat.

Pär Gerell and Anton Källberg suffered defeat at the hands of  Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia and João Geraldo, the no.14 seeds (12-10, 11-5, 11-3, 11-8); Kristian Karlsson and Mattias Karlsson overcame the partnership formed by Panagiotis Gionis of Greece and the Slovak Republic’s Wang Yang (4-11, 11-6, 12-14, 11-4, 11-4, 11-2).

At the semi-final stage, Patrick Franziska and Jonathan Groth meet Kristian Karlsson and Mattias Karlsson; Tiago Apolonia and João Geraldo face Jakub Dyjas and Daniel Gorak.