Paul Drinkhall battled through to the last 16 of the WTT Feeder Dusseldorf, but there was disappointment for Sam Walker – who missed five match points – and Tin-Tin Ho.

Drinkhall was up against Keishi Hagihara of Japan, notionally ranked in the 700s but who had beaten world No 124 Samuel Kulczycki in the first round.

Drinkhall, seeded 11, saw his left-handed opponent take the first game of their last-32 tie but hit back to take the next two. He then saved seven game points in the fourth, closing from 2-10 to 9-10 before Hagihara finally levelled.

Paul moved in front again, but his opponent again hit back to send it to a decider. Drinkhall led 5-4 at the change of ends and pulled away to clinch it 11-5.

He next faces Alvaro Robles of Spain at 12.20pm UK time today. Watch on the WTT YouTube page (table 2).

Sam Walker (WR 107) also went the distance in his last-64 tie against Deni Kozul (WR 161) of Slovenia. It was tight throughout, with five of the seven games going to deuce, but Walker led the decider 10-5 and was unable to close it out. He also saved a match point at 10-11 before his opponent took his next chance. Kozul went on to beat 10th seed Alberto Mino in four in the next round.

Ho (WR 155) had a good victory in the last 64 against Melanie Diaz (WR 116) of Puerto Rico in four straight. That put her up against world No 43 Miyu Nagasaki and this time it was four straight in favour of her opponent, seeded four.

In the doubles, Ho & Karoline Mischek of Austria saw two match points saved by Slovakian opponents Tatiana Kukulkova & Ema Labosova, who came from two games down to win 3-2 in the last 16 meeting.

Drinkhall was playing alongside Germany’s Benedikt Duda in the men’s doubles and the pair were top seeds – but they went out at the first hurdle at the hands of German pair Cedric Meissner & Kilian Ort, despite having chances to win the second and third games.

In the mixed, Walker & Ho went out at the first stage to Albert Mino & Nathaly Parades of Ecuador.

Results

Men’s Singles
Round of 64
Deni Kozul (SLO) bt Sam Walker 4-3 (10-12, 12-10, 13-11, 10-12, 7-11, 11-5, 13-11)

Round of 32
Paul Drinkhall bt Keishi Hagihara (JPN) 4-3 (7-11, 11-6, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5)

Women’s Singles
Round of 64
Tin-Tin Ho bt Melanie Diaz (PUR) 4-0 (11-9, 12-10, 11-8, 11-7)

Round of 32
Miyu Nagasaki (JPN) bt Ho 4-0 (11-5, 11-4, 11-8, 11-8)

Men’s Doubles
Round of 16
Cedric Meissner & Kilian Ort (GER) bt Paul Drinkhall & Benedikt Duda (GER) 3-0 (11-4, 13-11, 13-11)

Women’s Doubles
Round of 16
Tatiana Kukulkova & Ema Labosova (SVK) bt Tin-Tin Ho & Karoline Mischek (AUT) 3-2 (4-11, 10-12, 12-10, 12-10, 14-12)

Mixed Doubles
Round of 16
Albert Mino & Nathaly Parades (ECU) bt Sam Walker & Tin-Tin Ho 3-1 (6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-4)