Five players who negotiated two days of qualification matches and then caused upsets in the first two rounds of the Men’s Singles at the GAC GROUP ITTF World Tour Hungarian Open in Budapest, met their nemesis on Friday 20th January 2012. It was the end of the road for Croatia’s Tomislav Zubcic, Frenchman Simon Gauzy, England’s Andrew Baggaley, Ukraine’s Kou Lei and Italy’s Mihai Bobocica.

Nevertheless all can be delighted with their efforts in a tournament that has attracted the world’s best; all lost to high quality opposition.

Ma Long Imperious
China’s Ma Long, the no.1 seed, was the player to end the progress of Tomislav Zubcic, something he’s been doing with great aplomb for the past six months and more.

He beat the Croatian in five games (11-8, 11-4, 10-12, 11-7, 11-4).

Chen Qi Ends Hopes of Simon Gauzy
Similarly, for Simon Gauzy, it was a five games defeat and against high quality opposition; he was beaten by the multi-talented Chinese star, Chen Qi, the no. 7 seed, the player who one year ago won the Men’s Singles title at the English Open.

The 17 year old Frenchman gave his best but Chen Qi was not to be denied; the man from Jiangsu Province won 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-3. 

Defeat but the fact that Simon Gauzy can compete at such a high level is good news for France, very good news.

Englishman’s Progress Halted by Xu Xin 
Similarly, Andrew Baggaley ran into the might of China; he was beaten by Xu Xin, the no.4 seed, the player who in 2011 won the Men’s Singles title on the ITTF Pro Tour in both Slovenia and Qatar. Xu Xin won 11-6, 11-5, 12-10, 8-11.

Meanwhile, for Kou Lei and for Mihai Bobocica, it was defeat against the star names of defensive play.

Defence Closes Door
Austria’s Chen Weixing, the no.16 seed, beat Kou Lei (11-4, 11-6, 11-4, 11-4) and Korea’s Joo Se Hyuk, the no.6 seed, ended the hopes of Mihai Bobocica (11-9, 11-4, 11-8, 11-6).

Wins as the world order predicted and it was the same scenario in the remaining three matches in the third round of the Men’s Singles event.

Ghost Laid to Rest
China’s Ma Lin, the no.5 seed who in recent months has not enjoyed the best of fortunes put the ghosts of the last three months to rest; he beat Singapore’s Zhan Jian, the no. 26 seed and a former member of the Chinese National Team, in five games (11-5, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6) to book his place in the quarter-finals.

Romanian Keeps European Flag Flying 
A last eight place for Ma Lin and also for both colleague Zhang Jike and Romania’s Adrian Crisan.

Seeded no.2, Zhang Jike overcame Germany’s Bastian Steger, the no.9 seed (11-6, 11-5, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5), whilst Adrian Crisan, the no.15 seed, kept the European flag flying.

He accounted for Panagiotis Gionis of Greece in four straight games (11-9, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8).

Source: http://www.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf_full_story1.asp?ID=26644&Competition_ID=2104&

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