International Events | 30 Oct 2023

OVTCHAROV to Face FALCK in Round of 16

On the second day of play at the WTT Champions Frankfurt, featuring the world's top 32 players and offering a prize of 500,000 US dollars, 11 European players have so far advanced to the Round of 16.

On the opening day, Dimitrij OVTCHAROV brought joy to home nation supporters by defeating Portugal's Marcos FREITAS. OVTCHAROV was in peak form, securing his 14th victory in as many international matches against Freitas. Although he faced stiff resistance from this year's European Games finalist, OVTCHAROV came out on top with an 11:9, 8:11, 11:7, and 11:6 win.

OVTCHAROV will play his Round of 16 match on Wednesday. His opponent will be Swede Mattias FALCK, who overcame Germany’s Ruwen FILUS. The 2019 World Championship runner-up and double world champion of 2021 beat FILUS in five games (7-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7, 11-4).

Liam PITCHFORD of England overcame Japan’s Hiroto SHINOZUKA 3-1 (4, -8, 11, 5) to book his place in the Round of 16.

“The third game was pretty tight, 15-13. When I lost the second game, I think he would have had a lot of confidence, but to win that game and then start well in the fourth was very important. We both had a good performance. He played very well today. I think he was probably dominant in the long rally,” explained PITCHFORD. “He was keeping his backhand really well, but I just tried to fight and keep myself in the points, and I think I won a lot of points, especially on my serves. I think that was very important for me today. I needed to serve well against him and receive well, and it was my first time in the arena, so it took a little bit of time to get used to the conditions. But I'm very happy to win this match.”

The duel between two French players Felix LEBRUN and Simon GAUZY ended in favor of the younger LEBRUN brother, who reached his place among the World's top 10 this week 3-2 (7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 11-7).

"It was a very important match for me. Simon played very well today, and especially the last two games were on a very high level from both of us. The key to win was that at the end of the match I was physically in better condition. At the beginning, I didn't win many points when he was in defense, but I was able to change that towards the end of the match. I was stressed in this match, but at the same time, I was self-confident as I played well during the last two, three months. The crowd was amazing today. I felt super good to play in front of such a crowd,” said LEBRUN.

In the next round, he will meet Dang QUI who overcame Slovenia’s Darko JORGIC 3-0 (8, 8, 8).

In Women’s Singles, Nina MITTELHAM joined her teammate Sabine WINTER in the Round of 16. Nina overcame Egypt’s Hana GODA after a full-distance match (-5, 7, -5, 6, 5). On the previous day, French Prithika PAVADE beat CHENG I Ching, while her compatriot Jia Nan YUAN overcame Australia’s Yangzi LIU, and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania prevailed against Germany’s Annett KAUFMANN.