David McBeath’s Texas Smash side endured a difficult start to the defence of their Major League Table Tennis title, with two defeats from their opening three matches.

In the round of matches played at Raleigh, North Carolina, Smash started with a heavy 16-5 defeat by Chicago Wind.

With his team already 7-2 down overall, McBeath was up against Alexandru Cazacu of Romania in his singles match and fell to an 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 defeat.

He later faced Emmanuel Lebesson of France across eight points during the concluding golden game, taking only two as Wind completed a 21-11 win.

Smash followed up with a 14-7 loss to Carolina Gold Rush, with McBeath defeated 11-3, 11-8, 11-7 by Enzo Angles of France, although he did manage to play a memorable roller shot which lit up social media. He won three of his eight points against Satoshi Aida in the golden game.

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The final match saw Smash get their first win on the board as they defeated Seattle Spinners 14-7, though McBeath & Amir Hodaei of Iran lost the doubles 11-9, 11-9, 11-8 to Lubomir Pistej of Slovakia & Nigeria’s Olajide Omotayo.

McBeath won three golden game points again, against Ukraine’s Kou Lei, crucially holding his opponent 2-2 in the second set of four points to keep his side 19-17 up and on their way to victory.

It means after all eight teams have played three matches, only Gold Rush have an unbeaten record. Smash are next in action on the weekend of 4-6 October in Bedford Park, Illinois, while Liam Pitchford’s Florida Crocs return to the table on 1-3 November on home territory in Miami.