by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Success against the second seed for Truls Moregard, for Florian Cnudde, it was success in opposition to the no.12 seed; he inflicted further pain on Japan pain by overcoming Masaki Takami (8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 13-11, 8-11, 11-8).

However, the contest on which local eyes focused was that between Matteo Mutti and Chinese Taipei’s Li Hsin-Yang, both required to compete in the qualification tournament but Li Hsin-Yang started as the favourite. On the current Under 18 Boys’ World Rankings, he is listed at no.36 as opposed to Matteo Mutti who stands at no.42.

Urged forward by local support, Matteo Mutti recovered from a two games to nil deficit to record a somewhat unexpected seven games success (7-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-7, 10-12, 11-2, 11-3).

“It was really important to try to keep calm; certainly the crowd helped. The problem for me was the speed of his play; I had to try to slow things down; play with more top spin.” Matteo Mutti.

Surprise outcomes, in the remaining third round contests the favourites prevailed and with China very much to the fore.

Xue Fei, the top seed, beat Korean qualifier, Kwak Yubin (12-10, 11-4, 12-10, 11-5); Niu Guankai, the no.3 seed, overcame Chinese Taipei’s Feng Yi-Hsin, the no.14 seed but needed the full seven games to secure success (14-12, 13-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-13, 3-11, 11-9).

Meanwhile, Wang Chuqin, the no.5 seed, accounted for Russia’s Denis Ivonin, the no.16 seed (11-9, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6) and Xu Haidong, the no.7 seed, ended the adventures of Romanian qualifier Rares Sipos (11-5, 11-6, 7-11, 4-11, 14-12, 11-8).

Success for China and also there was success for Korea; Aan Jaehyun, the no.8 seed, defeated Japanese qualifier Yuta Tanaka (11-7, 9-11, 11-4, 11-7, 5-11, 11-9).

At the quarter-final stage Xue Fei meets Matteo Mutti, Wang Chuqin opposes Florian Cnudde; in the opposite half of the draw it is Niu Guankai against An Jaehyun, Xu Haidong in opposition to Truls Moregard.

The matches will be played later in the evening.