Matteo Mutti (Photo WTT)
Matteo Mutti pulled off a stunning win on the penultimate day of qualifying at China Smash table tennis championships, beating the No.12 seed Marcos Freitas over five games 13-15, 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 13-11.
In a match that lasted over 50 minutes and constantly swung back and forth, Mutti conceded the opener after failing to capitalise on four Game Points, but the World No.149 dominated the next two games to take a surprise lead over Freitas, who was previously ranked World No.7.
Mutti, who has never made it to the third round of qualifying in any of his previous three WTT Grand Smash events, then overturned a 4-7 deficit to lead 9-7, but another momentum swing saw World No.72 Freitas hit four winners to draw level and force a decider.
The final game was an absolute thriller, with Freitas scoring seven points in a row to save six Match Points, but the Portuguese player failed to get the eighth that would have given him the win.
Cheered on by a host of passionate supporters, Mutti looked both delighted and exhausted when he got the win, and he is now just one match away from his first WTT Grand Smash Main Draw.
It was a good day for China’s qualifiers, too, with Li Tianyang, 19, beating Quadri Aruna, a player who is twice his age 11-9, 11-4, 11-9.
Li’s compatriot Zhu Sibing took down No.11 seed Yashaswini Ghorpade in the Women’s Singles event 11-5, 11-7, 11-6.
In one of the final matches of the day, Xu Yingbin moved one step closer to making the Main Draw with a 14-12, 11-3, 11-4 win over Youssef Abdelaziz.
