On the third day of the WTT Star Contender event in Doha, all three English athletes participating remained in the competition.
Pitchford and Drinkhall have made a fantastic partnership in the men’s doubles. They beat Gardos and Habesohn in the quarter-finals in an epic match which came down to 13-11 in the fifth game, and also saved a match point along the way. The win was made even more impressive due to the fact that Drinkhall had been knocked out in the men’s singles by Habesohn earlier in the tournament.
The pair have now made it into the men’s doubles final, facing Cho Seungmin and An Jaehyun of Korea tomorrow – time TBC.
Despite being eliminated from the women’s singles event, England’s Tin-Tin Ho remained in contention for the women’s doubles, with her partner Karoline Mischek. The pair were victorious in an epic quarter-finals match against Balazova and De Nutte today – both players ranked significantly higher than Ho and Mischek. They were 2-0 down in games, and came back to win 3-2, despite being 5-0 down in the fifth.
They were knocked out in the semi-finals by a very good performance from Yang Haeun and Jeon Jihee of Korea. A fantastic tournament for Tin-Tin Ho.
Finally, Liam Pitchford is also having a great men’s singles tournament so far with some dominant wins over his opponents, including a 3-1 win over Hong Kong’s Ho Kan Kwit in the round of 16 last night.
He took on WONG Chun Ting, also of Hong Kong, ranked 20 in the world in the quarter-finals today and emphatically won 3-0.
See below for timings and results:
Women’s Doubles quarter-finals:
Tin-Tin Ho and Karoline Mischek bt Barbora Balazova (Slovakia) and Sara De Nutte (France) 3-2 (8-11, 14-16, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8).
Women’s Doubles semi-finals:
Tin-Tin Ho and Karoline Mischek lose to Yang Haeun and Jeon Jihee of Korea 0-3 (4-11, 9-11, 7-11).
This match is on Table 3 and can be watched live here.
Men’s Doubles semi-finals:
Liam Pitchford and Paul Drinkhall bt Cedric Nuytinck and Bojan Tokic 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-7).
Watch this space on who they will be playing in the final and how to watch!
Men’s Singles quarter-finals:
Liam Pitchford bt WONG Chun Ting of Hong Kong 3-0 (11-4, 11-7, 13-11).
Pitchford will face either Hugo Calderano or Simon Gauzy in the semi-finals.
Day 2 Results
Men’s Doubles quarter-finals:
Liam Pitchford and Paul Drinkhall bt Robert Gardos and Daniel Habesohn of Austria 3-2 (11-9, 12-10, 4-11, 10-12, 13-11).
Men’s Singles round of 32:
Liam Pitchford bt Tiago Apolinia of Portugal 3-1 (11-8, 9-11, 11-3, 11-3).
Men’s Singles round of 16:
Liam Pitchford bt Ho Kan Kwit of Hong Kong 3-1 (11-5, 7-11, 11-9, 11-8).
Mixed Doubles quarter-finals:
Liam Pitchford and Tin-Tin Ho lose to WONG Chun Ting and DOO Hoi Kem of Hong Kong 1-3 (11-5, 7-11, 10-12, 5-11).
Day 1 results:
Mixed Doubles:
Liam Pitchford and Tin-Tin Ho bt Tiago Apolinia and Jieni Shao of Portugal 3-1 (13-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9).
Men’s Doubles:
Liam Pitchford and Paul Drinkhall bt CHEN Chien-An and CHUANG Chih-Yuan of Chinese Taipeiat 3-1 (11-7, 11-1, 5-11, 11-7).
Women’s Doubles:
Tin-Tin Ho and Karoline Mischek bt Maryam Farei and Shima Farei of Iran 3-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-5).
Men’s Singles:
Paul Drinkhall vs Daniel Habesohn of Austria at 1530.
Women’s Singles:
Tin-Tin Ho loses to Archana Girish Kamath 1-3 (7-11, 11-6, 11-13, 8-11).