Long games, big wins

The hardest fought matches of the women’s singles round of 32? Austria’s Yui Hamamoto and Japan’s Shiho Matsudaira each escaped endurance runs with 4:3 wins over their opponents. Hamamoto had the most heart-pounding time of it: she was down 3-0 against Australia’s Lay Jian Fang and worked her way out of the do-or-die situation with four fantastic final games (8-11, 3-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8, 11-4).

Matsudaira, meanwhile, seesawed with Romania’s Bernadette Szocs before delivering the deciding points in game seven (12-10, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 13-11).

Here come the Suns

Game on between Wang Manyu and Sun Yingsha, one of the day’s most highly anticipated matchups. Historically Wang had the advantage, though not by much — the two have met seven times in ITTF play, with Wang coming away with four of those matches, including at the 2019 Worlds in Budapest.

You got a feel for how this one was going to go when they drew even and kept pushing each other from game one, which Sun finally took 14-12. She got the next two as well, drawing a 3-0 lead before Wang took a game from her. Overall though, Sun outshone Wang, going 4:1 (14-12, 11-5, 11-5, 7-11, 11-2) for the win. The two are now 4-4 against each other.

It’s a good day to be a Sun, as Sun Mingyang showed in overcoming Zhu Yuling 4:1 (11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8).

Sato, Ishikawa take the honors

The women’s singles round of 16 will have one all-Chinese matchup (Chen Meng vs. Mu Zi) and now one all-Japanese battle, between Hitomi Sato and Kasumi Ishikawa. Sato dropped her first game to Germany’s Nina Mittelham before rallying to a 4:1 win (10-12, 11-5, 11-7, 11-1, 11-6), while Ishikawa, faced off with 14-year-old sensation Miyuu Kihara, admirably answered with the younger generation’s challenge, 4:0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5).

Chen vs. Chen

Victorious in women’s singles at last week’s Korea Open in Busan, Chen Meng had no trouble dispatching Chinese Taipei’s Chen Szu-Yu 4:0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-7, 11-7). The World #1 has been a fixture in late tournament play all year, beginning with her win at the Hungarian Open in January through to last week’s triumph in Busan.

It took Mu Zi only a few minutes more to advance 4:0 over Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong, though Doo kept pace with the 30-year-old Chinese veteran in games two and four, pushing things into extra points (11-6, 12-10, 11-2, 12-10).

Possible upsets and a European rivalry

When you have two Chinese pairs losing their opening games, the smell of an upset (or two) gets stronger. Add to that the Swedish pair of Mattias Falck and coach Kristian Karlsson being irresistible against Germans Benedikt Duda and Qiu Dang (11-6, 11-7, 11-6), then you have a super afternoon stew.

Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin’s pairing were the first to drop a game against Hong Kong’s Lam Siu Hang and Ng Pak Nam. On another table, Ma Long and Lin Gaoyuan synced up to be 8-11 down versus Japan’s Togami Shunsuke and Uda Yukiya. In the end, the Chinese elite duos rolled up their sleeves for 3:1 and 3:2 wins respectively-but it came as an early warning of the fierce competition in Geelong.

No (quarterfinal) place at home

Today might not go down as a happy day for most Australians, as yet another host pairing perished in the first round of the main event. David Powell and Kane Townsend could not win a game against Indian duo Amalraj Anthony and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (11-7, 11-3, 11-8).

Meanwhile, the Korean men followed the women’s lead and moved on the next round with spirited showings. Joeung Youngsik and Lee Sangsu had the easier time, with a swift 3:0 win over Czech pair Pavel Sirucek and Labomir Jancarik. Compatriots Jang Woojin and Lim Jonghoon had a tougher time negotiating past Slovenia’s Darko Jorgic and Belgian Florent Lambiet in a 3:2 thriller.

No sweat for Korean pairs

Fan favorite Jeon Jihee and her partner Yang Haeun had a straightforward afternoon, as they won 3:0 (11-8, 11-7, 11-5) against Thailand’s Jinnipa Sawettabut and Suthasini Sawettabut.

Powerful service shots were on display from Jeon and Yang, pushing the Sawettabutt sisters into defensive strokes throughout. The match concluded in 25 minutes, which was still longer than the walkover victory for Choi Hyojoo and Lee Eunhye who benefited from Chinese Liu Shiwen’s withdrawal due to injury yesterday.

European qualifiers unable to march on

French qualifiers Laura Gasnier and Audrey Zarif were unable to step into the quarterfinals, as they came up short against the Japanese duo of Hirano Miu and Shibata Saki.

The speed of Miu and Saki’s backhand-forehand combination turned out to be too hot for the Europeans to handle, meaning a 3:1 win for the Asians. Elsewhere, another European duo exited the tournament as Slovakian Barbora Balazova and Czech Hana Matelova lost out to Japan’s Miyuu Kihara and Miyu Nagasaki in similar fashion (11-4, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9).

Spanish duo turn up the heat, but can’t make it count

Alvaro Robles and Maria Xiao brought some Spanish flavor to morning proceedings here in Geelong, as they were involved in a fiery match-up with Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem.

With both pairs playing their first game of the tournament, the higher intensity was very welcome. The match swung both ways consistently before the Asians got a foothold in the tie and never let go, winning 3:2 (7-11, 11-8, 11-4, 7-11, 11-8).

Difficult start for home favorites

It was an extremely difficult start to the main event for the hosts, as the Aussie pairing of Kane Townsend and Jee Minhyung lost in straight games to France’s Tristan Flore and Laura Gasnier (11-6, 11-4, 11-1) in just 15 minutes of game time.

On the only other live table, it took Chinese Taipei duo Lin Yun-Ju and Chen I-Ching 18 minutes to see off Indian doubles partnership of Archana Girish Kamath and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (11-4, 11-6, 11-8).

Day one commences!

It’s time for day one of the Seamaster 2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum Australian Open – Here’s the fixture schedule for the day ahead and make sure to watch along live with itTV: