by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

The 26 year old was beaten by Poland’s 22 years of age, Jakub Dyjas who, after overcoming Frenchman, Andrea Landrieu in the first preliminary round (11-7, 7-11, 11-3, 11-6, 13-10), gave what was arguably the best performance of his career.

He beat Fang Bo in four straight games (11-8, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8).

“I feel amazing! He’s really a great player, 2015 World Championships runner up, great player in the Chinese Super League, I’m really happy to be able to win. I really didn’t expect that I could win four-nil against him; I was expecting that if I had the chance to win, maybe four-three or four-two. Of course it was still a hard match, the score was four-nil, I’m really happy about that.

I did my preparations like usual as my other matches, I tried to stay focused before my match and believe in myself because I think I’m now a lot better as compared to last year.

Tactically he had a lot of problems with my service and I knew I need to play aggressive and faster than him. In rallies I feel he’s still stronger, so I had to hit the ball in good places, placement was crucial in the match.” Jakub Dyjas

Success against one Chinese star, now another awaits; in the opening round of the Men’s Singles event, Jakub Dyjas meets Xu Xin, the no.3 seed.