(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
Action is underway in the main round of the United States Smash, the first WTT Smash series event to be held on American soil. The world’s best are in Las Vegas, and five Americans (one by ranking and four wild cards) will see knock-out round action. The first half of the Round of 64 was played on Sunday where six of the 16 matches played ended with tight 3-2 scores. Unfortunately for American fans, Kanak Jha was on the short end of one of those tight matches – falling behind 0-2 to Lee Sang Su of Korea, then fighting back to event the score before falling 2-3. This was not a real upset, just a tough draw for World No. 27 Jha who fell just short against World No. 30 Lee.
The biggest news of the first day was Frenchman qualifier Lilian Bardet (World No. 85) who took out Liang Jingkun (World No. 5). Jingkun was overpowering in the first game. Bardet played very carefully in the second game, mixing the pace – playing soft shots by default and then one big swing and then back to being careful. The strategy changed the dynamic of the match and the two played largely even to a 2-2 tie, and in the final game Jingkun seemed to lose some feel, uncharacteristically missing some easy shots and then struggling as he was forced to play from behind. A great win for Bardet who now moves on to face Ricardo Walther.
The first day was a good day for two other French players as well. Felix Lebrun outlasted Shunsuke Togame 3-2, and Simon Gauzy blanked Aditya Sareen 3-0. Those two will face each other on Tuesday in the Round of 16. Two other French players are set to compete today with Thibault Poret drawing top seed Lin Shidong, and Alexis Lebrun a heavy favorite against Milosz Redzimski.
Other big names in action on Sunday included Wang Chuqin, Dang Qiu, and Darko Jorgic who all advanced easily. Two other upsets included Liam Pitchford who upset Chen Yuanyu 3-1 and Omar Assar who topped Anton Kallberg 3-2.
Lots of quality table tennis on tap all week long with the Final scheduled for next Sunday.
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