Tournaments

16 Nov 2017

A first round exit for Mattias Karlsson, followed by the very same for Jens Lundqvist; it was not the best of evenings for the host nation as the Men's Singles first round, at the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Swedish Open progressed in Stockholm on Thursday 16th November.

At the very last gasp a hero emerged; Kristian Karlsson, the no.13 seed; he delivered the goods to bring the day to a tumultuous end.

by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Focused, determined, he recovered from a two games to nil deficit to beat the Czech Republic’s Pavel Sirucek (8-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-9, 12-10); the win coming after the Nordic country had experienced two agonising defeats.

Mattias Karlsson, the no.16 seed, had lost to the Slovakian defender, Wang Yang in an agonising seven games (11-9, 9-11, 11-13, 11-5, 12-10, 12-14, 11-4); soon after Jens Lundqvist has suffered at the hands of Japan’s 14 year old Tomokazu Harimoto, the no.11 seed, in a similar fashion (11-4, 9-11, 9-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-8).

“I’m exhausted, in the sixth game instead of defending I attacked with forehand top spin; I was just too tired to do that in the seventh. I led 4-3 then 9-4 as Mattias made mistakes. I’m so tired, my legs ache.” Wang Yang.

Heavy defeats are painful, close defeat are even more painful; that pain was reduced by Kristian Karlsson.

“Pavel played well, he received my service well and he was good in the rallies. He is very powerful; as the match progressed I received service better and that changed things in my favour.” Kristian Karlsson

In round two, in the lower half of the draw Koki Niwa meets Wang Yang, Kristian Karlsson opposes Fang Bo. Meanwhile, Kenta Matsudaira plays Jonathan Groth, Tomokazu Harimoto confronts Xu Xin.

The matches will be played on Friday 17t November.

 

World Tour 2017 Seamaster Swedish Open Tomokazu Harimoto Kristian Karlsson Wang Yang Pavel Sirucek Jens Lundqvist Mattias Karlssom
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Day 4 - Seamaster 2017 ITTF Swedish Open