Sathiyan Gnanasekaran’s qualifying hopes for China Smash has been crushed at the opening hurdle, with Niagol Stoyanov causing a big upset, winning 11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 8-11, 11-3.
Earlier in the day, Men’s Singles qualifying lost its No.2 and No.3 seeded players Liao Cheng-Ting and Cho Daeseong. With Gnanasekaran also heading for the exit, it now means the highest-seeded player through to the second round is Chan Baldwin, who was put through the ringer himself, surviving a tense showdown with Deni Kozul (11-8, 5-11, 12-14, 11-2, 11-4).
Next up for Chan is Leonardo Iizuka. The latter player heads into that contest with a huge confidence boost after getting the better of local hopeful Li Hechen (4-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8). Meanwhile, Kirill Gerassimenko required Match Point saves at 9-10 and 11-12 deep in game four to mastermind a come from behind win over Amirreza Abbasi (11-7, 15-17, 8-11, 15-13, 11-7).
Making waves at ITTF World Championships Finals 2025 earlier this season in Doha, any hopes of living out the same dream at China Smash also ended prematurely for Lea Rakovac.
The No.3 seed in Women’s Singles qualifying made a bright start against Zhu Sibing, but was ultimately outmuscled as the Chinese player found her groove, picking up the pace as the match progressed to finish the job in three (11-7, 11-6, 11-5).
Elsewhere, Ivana Malobabic upstaged Adina Diaconu towards the end of the evening, defeating the No.4 qualifying seed 3-1 (8-11, 11-2, 11-6, 12-10), while Giulia Takahashi picked up an impressive win over Sabina Surjan (11-6, 4-11, 11-9, 12-10).
The race for the main draw also saw an epic start with Audrey Zarif’s 3-2 win over Jiangshan Guo setting Smash Arena alight (11-6, 10-12, 10-12, 11-8, 12-10).
Two players hell-bent on reaching the main draw for the first time at Smash level, for Jiangshan Guo, who was left frustrated at the final qualifying hurdle last month at Europe Smash – Sweden 2025, this presented her an opportunity to bounce back.
Despite an early setback, the American player would go on to hold all the cards three games in, but would be made to wait as Zarif hit back, digging deep in game four to keep her hopes alive.
Letting a healthy 6-1 lead in the fifth pass her by, momentum was now firmly against Zarif, but her refusal to back down would prove the difference. Staring at the jaws of defeat, the French player held her nerve at 9-10, saving Match Point before flipping the script, converting her Match Point opportunity at 11-10 to squeeze through in dramatic fashion.
While it was defeat for one American hopeful, for Jessica Reyes Lai it was a day for celebration.
Facing off against No.9 qualifying seed Yoo Yerin on Thursday, the odds appeared to be in the Korean star’s favour heading into the match. Despite a promising start, however, Yoo’s optimism was quickly dampened as Reyes Lai found another gear, pulling clear in games two, three and four to upstage Yoo 3-1 (10-12, 11-7, 11-9, 13-11).
Over in Men’s Singles qualifying, Maciej Kubik saved not one, but two Match Points in his opening round contest, showing nerves of steel to deny No.3 qualifying seed Cho Daeseong in five (8-11, 11-8, 12-10, 7-11, 13-11).
However, Cho wasn’t the highest-seeded casualty in the first session, with that unfortunate statistic going against Liao Cheng-Ting. Entering the week as the No.2 qualifying seed, Liao was well backed to go deep into the qualifying conversation, but was undone by Tom Jarvis, whose grit and determination proved enough to eliminate Liao from contention (11-4, 18-16, 9-11, 13-11).
