Tin-Tin Ho put in a performance of focus and flair to handsomely defeat seventh seed Natalia Bajor at the European Championships today – and Liam Pitchford also made it through his first singles match.

The English No 1 Ho was giving up 142 places in the world rankings to her Polish opponent in the first round of the Women’s Singles – Bajor is currently listed at No 44.

But it did not look like it as Ho took the first game and then, after losing the second, hit back with a display which left Bajor – runner-up at WTT Feeder Manchester earlier this year – gesticulating in frustration at times.

And when in sight of the finish line, Ho did not lose her nerve and completed a 4-1 victory on her first match point to go through to the last 32.

There, she will face the 32nd seed, Yuan Wan (WR 110) of Germany at 5pm tomorrow UK time (Table 3).

In the Men’s Singles, 15th seed Liam Pitchford entered the fray for the first time against host nation favourite Robert Gardos of Austria.

Now world-ranked at 120, Gardos has a storied European Championships history, having won five medals alongside Daniel Habesohn in the Men’s Doubles, including gold in 2012 and 2018. He also has a Men’s Singles bronze from back in 2008.

But Pitchford was in no mood to allow the Austrian crowd to get on a wave of support for their favourite as he led throughout most of each of the first three games, the only minor wobble coming when he missed two of his three game points in the second.

Gardos, having not much to lose, upped the aggression in the fourth, taking it 11-3, but the storm faded in the fifth as Pitchford brought home a 4-1 (11-7, 11-9, 11-7, 3-11, 11-7) victory to reach the last 32.

He will face either another Austrian, Maciej Kolodziejczyk (WR 187), or Thibault Poret (WR 75) of France, who play later tonight, in tomorrow’s last 32.

At the same time as Pitchford was in action, Sam Walker had a tough task against Slovakian ‘chopper’ Yang Wang, ranked No 73 and the 24th seed here.

And so it proved, Walker cutting a dejected figure at times as the ball kept coming back at him for four increasingly one-sided games as he was beaten 6, 5, 4, 3.

Keep an eye on our social media channels for the latest news, interviews and behind-the-scenes content with the England squad.

The Championships is being streamed live on ETTU.TV. Click here to follow all live scores and results on the ETTTU website.

Results

Women’s Singles
Round of 64
Tin-Tin Ho bt Natalia Bajor (POL) 4-1 (11-7, 4-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-9)

Men’s Singles
Round of 64
Yang Wang (SVK) bt Sam Walker 4-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-4, 11-3)
Liam Pitchford bt Robert Gardos (AUT) 4-1 (11-7, 11-9, 11-7, 3-11, 11-7)