Mutti in the clear
Leonardo Mutti was in a scintillating mood as he pulled clear of the challenge of Honduras’ Jose You in a 4-1 (11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 11-2) win for the Italian.
Over at table 1, there was a seven-game thriller for Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yan-Cheng versus Canada’s Marko Medjugorac, with the Asian coming out on top 4-3 (6-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6) in 42 minutes.
Shunsuke Togami in good start
Japanese Shunsuke Togami who caused one of the upsets last week at the ITTF Challenge Plus, Portugal Open, continued his fine form in Budapest with a 4-1 (11-8, 8-11, 11-2, 11-1, 11-4) defeat of Spain’s Adrian Morato.
Similarly, his compatriot Yuma Tsuboi beat Aleksa Gacev 4-1 (7-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7, 11-8) to confirm his stay in the competition. Nigeria’s Kazeem Makanjuola was no match to Chinese Taipei’s Heng-Wei Yang as the Asian won 4-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-1, 11-6).
Early exit for Levenko
Austria’s Andreas Levenko exited early after a 4-0 (11-2, 11-6, 11-5, 11-6) loss to Hungarian Patrik Juhasz. Belgium’s Olav Kosolosky had a 4-1 (11-2, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6, 15-13) edge over Luxembourg’s Luka Mladenovic to progress to the next stage.
“This was a very good match from me, and I played on a high level. We played against each other in the league a few years ago I lost to him, but it was very close. Today we had our tactics spot on with my coach and I have not given away any cheap points. This was the key to my success. I am pleased with my results looking forward to the next round.” Patrik Juhasz
Frenchman Alexandre Cassin had an easy passage to the next round after a comfortable 4-0 (11-2, 11-5, 11-6, 11-4) win over Hungary’s Norbert Nagy. Also, Frenchman Bastien Rembert negotiated the first hurdle with a 4-2 (11-7, 8-11, 12-10, 4-11, 11-5, 11-5) victory over Hungary’s Oliver Both.