Megan Shackleton secured bronze in women’s class 4 on the second day of the ITTF Slovenia Para Open in Lasko.

Going into the final day of singles events today, Bly Twomey (women’s class 7), Tom Matthews (men’s class 1) and Will Bayley (men’s class 7) are also assured of medals having progressed to the semi-finals, while Martin Perry (men’s class 6) and Billy Shilton (men’s class 8) are both through to the quarter-finals of their respective events.

Women’s class 4

Megan Shackleton (pictured above) was a 3-0 winner against the Oceania champion Lisa Di Toro from Australia and then bounced back from losing 3-0 to Serbian world No 8 Nada Matic to beat Ghaliah Alanazi from Saudi Arabia 3-0 and secure her place in the quarter-finals.

A 3-0 win against Andreja Dolinar, the three-time European bronze medallist from Slovenia took her through to the semi-finals to face Borislava Peric-Rankovic and she came agonisingly close to a first win in 15 matches against the World No 1, leading 2-1 and holding match point at 11-10 in the fourth but the former world and Paralympic champion from Serbia levelled at 2-2 and took the deciding set 11-8.

Although disappointed to lose such a close match Shackleton can take great confidence from this performance into the World Paralympic Qualification tournament in Thailand later this month.

“I’m proud of the performance and hopefully I can get the win next time,” she said. “Obviously Peric is a very strong player and has dominated the class for years so I think coming into this part of the season it is really good for me to be able to show that I can contend with the best in the world.

“Unfortunately, I lost the match point in the fourth and I tried not to think about it too much. The positives are that everything I’ve been doing in training is starting to come together in matches and hopefully I can take that into Thailand and get the result I want.”

Women’s class 7

Bly Twomey was impressive in beating the world No 12 and European bronze medallist Nora Korneliussen from Norway 3-0 and secured her place in the quarter-finals with a 3-0 win against Valentina Marcheva, the world No 10 from Bulgaria.

The 14-year-old from Brighton took on 53-year-old World No 11 Claudia Perez Villalba from Mexico and she beat the Para PanAmerican champion 3-0 to set up a semi-final against the world and European champion Kubra Korkut from Turkey.

“When I first started playing because I’m so young I thought the other players would probably beat me,” said Twomey, “but now I’ve got used to everything and I feel more confident. I’m looking forward to the semi-finals because I’ll play the number two in the world and I haven’t played her since the Europeans last year. I have got much better since then so I’m hoping to give her a good game.”

Men’s class 1

Tom Matthews could not produce his best form in a 3-0 loss to world No 4 Kim Hakjin from the Korea Republic in his first match but showed all his character with a 3-1 win against world bronze medallist Andrea Borgato from Italy to secure his place in the quarter-finals.

He came through a five-set battle against world No 3 Endre Major from Hungary, taking the deciding set 11-8 after Major had levelled at 2-2 and will play the Korean world No 1 Joo Young Dae in the semi-finals today.

Rob Davies began with a 3-0 win against the 24-year-old unranked Gasper Mlakar from Slovenia. Endre Major denied the Welshman a fifth consecutive singles title in the European Championship final last year and the Hungarian came back from 2-0 down to win again here, 11-9 in the fifth.

Davies progressed from group 4 with a 3-0 win against Rakan Abdulrahman Alsalmi from Saudi Arabia and after a slow start against World No two Kim Hyeon Uk in the quarter-final he twice levelled the match before the Tokyo silver medallist and former world champion from the Republic of Korea took the deciding set 11-4 for a 3-2 win.

Men’s class 6

Martin Perry recovered from dropping the first set to beat Lee Se Ho from the Republic of Korea 3-1 and then played a great match to beat the former European silver medallist Bobi Simion from Romania 3-0. Perry topped group 5 with a 3-0 win against the unranked Tomaz Rabuzin from Slovenia and received a last 16 bye into the quarter-finals where he will play Matias Pino Lorca from Chile.

Paul Karabardak came through a tense fourth set 16-14 to beat the 15-year-old American Samuel Altshuler 3-1 and then led 1-0 and 2-1 against Ignacio Torres Orostica before the world No 5 and Para PanAmerican silver medallist from Chile levelled at 2-2 and edged the deciding set 13-11. Karabardak progressed as group 4 runner-up with a hard-fought 3-1 win against Junki Itai from Japan but lost his last 16 match to Michael Azulay from Sweden 3-1.

Men’s class 7

Will Bayley won his first match against the former class 6 European silver medallist Pavao Jozic from Croatia 3-0 and then had to fight hard to beat world No 17 Sam Gustafsson from Sweden 3-1 to secure his place in the quarterfinals. The world No 1 said afterwards that he would have to improve, and he produced a much better performance in the quarter-finals to beat the former world champion Jordi Morales from Spain 3-0. He plays world No 10 Jonas Hansson from Sweden in the semi-finals.

Theo Bishop put up a great performance against the Para PanAmerican silver medallist Israel Pereira Stroh, twice levelling the match before the Rio 2016 Paralympic silver medallist from Brazil took the deciding set for a 3-2 win.

Bishop kept himself in contention with a 3-0 win against Gonzalo Rodriguez from Spain and progressed from group 3 with a 3-1 win against world No 14 Ben Despineux from Belgium. Bishop had won in five sets against Michal Deigsler in Kazakhstan in March, and he took the first set of their quarter-final 13-11 but the world No 12 from Poland came back to take the match 3-1.

Men’s class 8

Billy Shilton was a 3-0 winner against Daichi Imaizumi from Japan, silver medallist in the Korea Open last year. He then produced a great performance to beat world No 8 Thomas Bouvais, the world silver medallist from France, 3-1 and progressed to the knockout stages as winner of group 6 with a 3-0 win against Luiz Filipe Guarnieri Manara from Brazil.

He won his last 16 match against Phisit Wangphonphathanasiri, the world doubles silver medallist from Thailand 3-0 and plays world No 6 Emil Andersson from Sweden in the quarter-finals today.

Top seed Aaron McKibbin began with a comfortable 3-0 win against world No 21 Zeev Glikman, the veteran former world and Paralympic champion from Israel. He lost a tight first set against world No 13 Borna Zohil 16-14 and then fought back from 2-0 down to level at 2-2 but the 17-year-old from Croatia, who has taken medals in Brazil, Spain and Poland this season took the deciding set 11-7.

McKibbin secured his place in the knockout stages with a 3-0 win against Ricard Sabio Ruiz from Spain but never really found his form in his last 16 match against world No 2 and European silver medallist Maksym Nikolenko from Ukraine who was a 3-0 winner.

Men’s class 9

Joshua Stacey started well against world No 1 Laurens Devos but the two-time world and Paralympic champion from Belgium edged the first set 12-10 and went on to complete a 3-0 win, 11-9 in the third. Stacey progressed from group 1 as runner-up after beating world No 3 Lev Kats from Ukraine 3-0 but he could not produce that form in the quarter-final against world No 2 Ma Lin and the Chinese born former World and Paralympic champion from Australia was a 3-0 winner.

In group 2 Ross Wilson was a 3-0 winner against Logan Watson, the Para PanAmerican bronze medallist from USA. He led 10-4 in the first set against Ma Lin before eventually losing it 13-11 but came back fighting to take the second 11-3. Ma went on to take the next two sets for a 3-1 win and Wilson went out after a 3-1 loss to world No 11 Koyo Iwabuchi from Japan.

Ashley Facey lost his first match to Ander Cepas, the world No 5 from Spain 3-0 and then produced a fighting performance to beat Hayuma Abe, the Asian Para Games doubles silver medallist from Japan, 12-10 in the fifth. Facey once again showed great character to fight back from 2-0 down to beat world No 8 Lucas Didier from France 3-2 and was unlucky to miss out on a place in the knockout stages on countback.

Men’s class 2

Chris Ryan did not progress from a tough group, although he started brilliantly against Federico Crosara, taking the first set 11-2, but the world No 7 from Italy came back to win 3-1. Ryan edged a close third set against Tomasz Jakimczuk 14-12 before the world and European doubles bronze medallist from Poland took the fourth for a 3-1 win and the former GB wheelchair rugby captain fought back again against world No 3 Peter Lovas to take the third set 11-6 although the Slovakian took the fourth 11-5 and the match 3-1.

Men’s class 5

Jack Hunter-Spivey lost his opening match 3-0 to world No 3 Tommy Urhaug, the former world and Paralympic champion from Norway. He looked to be in control of his match against Hamza Caliskan at 2-0 up but the world No 16 and former European team champion from Turkey came back to level at 2-2 and took the deciding set 11-9.

Women’s class 6

Fliss Pickard was a 3-1 winner against Emelie Endre, the world No 14 from Sweden, and then played superbly to beat world No 5 Katarzyna Marszal, the world and European silver medallist and former world champion from Poland 3-0. She progressed to the quarter-finals as group winner with a 3-0 win against European doubles champion Merethe Tveiten from Norway and led Stephanie Grebe 2-0 but the world No 2 and Tokyo Paralympic bronze medallist from Germany levelled at 2-2 and took the deciding set 11-9 to avenge her recent 3-0 defeat by Pickard in Poland.

Women’s class 8

Grace Williams and world No 2 Thu Kamkasomphou last met in the European Championships last year when Williams won in five sets on her way to winning silver. She took the first set here 11-7 but the 55-year-old world champion and former two-time Paralympic champion from France took a close second 11-9 to level and then used all her experience to take the match 3-1.

Williams then showed her character by coming through a five-set battle against Karin Pracek from Slovenia 11-8 in the fifth but did not progress after a 3-0 loss to world No 5 Juliane Wolf from Germany.