England are guaranteed to be represented in the Men’s Doubles final after today’s draws for the WTT Feeder Manchester.
England coach John Murphy was assisting WTT officials with the draw, and he – completely at random – drew all four pairs into the bottom half of the draw.
The two quarter-finals will see second seeds Liam Pitchford & Paul Drinkhall face Ben Piggott & Connor Green, while David McBeath & Tom Jarvis will play Louis Price & Shayan Siraj.
The winners will face each other in the semi-finals, meaning the winner of that match will play in Sunday’s final.
In the Women’s Doubles, an all-British quarter-final could be on the card. Anna Hursey & Tin-Tin Ho, as second seeds, have a bye to that stage and will face the winners of the tie between Sophie Earley & Tianer Yu and French duo Isa Cok & Audrey Zarif.
Mollie Patterson& Emily Bolton are in the same half of the draw and face Margo Degraef & Nathalie Marchetti of Belgium.
The only English presence in the top half is Mari Baldwin, who is competing alongside Elvira Rad of Spain – they face fourth seeds Sabina Surjan & Isabela Lupulesku of Serbia.
In the Mixed, top British pair Pitchford & Hursey start against Juan Perez & Sofia-Xuan Zhang of Spain in the last 16. They are in the same part of the draw as Siraj & Yu, who will have to beat third seeds Luka Mladenovic & Xia Lian Ni of Luxembourg if they are to advance.
McBeath & Bolton are up against the top seeds, Nandor Ecseki & Dora Madarasz of Hungary, while
Earley & Green face second seeds Dimitrije Levajac & Izabela Lupulesku of Serbia.
Jarvis & Ho play Niagol Stoyanov & Giorgia Piccolin of Italy, and Piggott & Patterson meet Yoo Siwoo & Park Gyeongtae of South Korea.
There is an all-British clash too, as Price & Baldwin take on Harri Docherty of Wales & Hannah Silcock of Jersey.
Top seed Liam Pitchford will start his quest to win his first WTT title against Italy’s Niagol Stoyanov, the world No 112.
The Men’s Singles draw also paired Paul Drinkhall with Italian opposition in the shape of Mihai Bobocica (WR 82).
Both of England’s top two are in the top half of the draw, meaning they could potentially meet in the semi-finals – though a lot of results have to fall into place first.
Two younger England players are in the same section of the draw – Louis Price plays Germany’s Steffen Mengel (WR59), while Shayan Siraj faces Matteo Mutti of Italy (WR 190), who came through qualifying.
In the bottom half of the draw, David McBeath will play Belgium’s Martin Allegro (WR 64), while Tom Jarvis will play compatriot Connor Green, who came through the qualifying rounds in fine style. A possible last-16 clash against second seed Anders Lind awaits the winner.
England No 1 Tin-Tin Ho was drawn against sixth seed Yang Ha Eun (WR 60) of South Korea in the last 32, while Wales’ Anna Hursey has to play Hana Matelova (WR 77) of Czech Republic.
Sophie Earley has a tough draw against fourth seed Britt Eerland (WR 42) of Netherlands and Mari Baldwin faces fifth seed Liu Hsing-Yin (WR 59) of Chinese Taipei. Those ties are in the top half, along with Ho’s.
In the bottom half with Hursey are Emily Bolton, who plays Margaryta Pesotska (WR 86) of Ukraine, and Mollie Patterson, who is up against Frances’ Audrey Zarif (WR 71).