Tin-Tin Ho dug deep to defeat the 19th seed, while Liam Pitchford also came through his tie at the European Championships. However, Sam Walker, Tom Jarvis and Charlotte Bardsley went out.
Ho had a see-saw battle with Sarah De Nutte of Luxembourg in the last 64, trailing 1-0 and 2-1 and leading 3-2 before her opponent forced a decider.
Ho kept in front and brought up a match point at 10-9, which was saved, but she took her second chance to seal victory. Ho’s next opponent is third seed Sofia Polcanova of Austria in the last 32 at 2.45pm UK time on Thursday on table 1 – click here to watch live.
Bardsley had a tough draw against 15th seed Jieni Shao of Portugal and was defeated in four straight.
In the men’s draw, ninth seed Pitchford came through against Czech Republic’s Tomas Polansky in his last-64 tie. After sharing the first two close games, Pitchford pulled clear to win in five. He will next face 27th seed Tiago Apolonia of Portugal. The match is on Friday.
Jarvis’ terrific fightback against 30th seed Lubomir Jancarik was in vain as the Czech won the deciding game 11-8. Jarvis was 3-1 down but came back to level a match which lasted 75 minutes. But Jancarik just kept in front in the decider and took it on his second match point to set up a tie with the great Timo Boll, the defending champion.
Walker showed up well against 16th seed Jon Persson of Sweden before falling to a 4-2 defeat.
The Englishman won the first and fourth games and the key to the match lay in the fifth, when he led 8-5 but saw his opponent fight back to lead 10-8. Walker saved those two game points but not the next. In the sixth it was 6-6, but Persson’s run of three points to 9-6 proved crucial and he went through to the last 32.
In the Women’s Doubles, Ho & Karoline Mischek of Austria, the ninth seeds, were beaten in three by fourth seeds Hana Matelova of Czech Republic & Barbora Balazova of Slovakia.
Results
Women’s Singles
Round of 64
Tin-Tin Ho bt Sarah De Nutte (LUX) 4-3 (9-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 5-11, 12-10)
Jieni Shao (POR) bt Charlotte Bardsley 4-0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-5, 11-6)
Men’s Singles
Round of 64
Jon Persson (SWE) bt Sam Walker 4-2 (5-11, 11-4, 11-8, 7-11, 12-10, 11-7)
Lubomir Jancarik (CZE) bt Tom Jarvis 4-3 (14-12,11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 9-11, 11-8)
Liam Pitchford bt Tomas Polansky (CZE) 4-1 (12-10, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8)
Women’s Doubles
Round of 16
Hana Matelova (CZE) & Barbora Balazova (SVK) bt Tin-Tin Ho & Karoline Mischek (AUT) 3-0 (11-8, 11-4, 11-5)