(by Steve Hopkins)

The second event in the Euro Summer Series, The WTT Champions European Summer Series 2022, is underway in Hungary.  The Finals of the first event finished on Saturday night, and players were back at it Monday morning.  Both of last week’s finalists had trouble restarting – as Truls Moregard fell 3-2 to Marcos Freitas and Wang Chuqin fell 3-2 to Kristian Karlsson.  Both players have been inconsistent over their careers, and a let down just 2 days after an exhausting Final is not unexpected, but each wants to become a fixture in the World Top 5 and this is not the way to make that happen.

At this point, half of the Round of 16 has been played – and the morning winners are Liang Jingkun (he will face Chuang Chih-Yuan), Yukiya Uda, Tomokazu Harimoto, and Darko Jorgic.  The remaining matches today are Ma Long versus Patrick Franziska, Hugo Calderano versus Lim Jonghoon, and Lin Gaoyuan versus Timo Boll.

Kanak Jha drew Timo Boll in the Round of 64.  The young American gave Boll a scare – jumping out to a 2-0 lead.  However, Boll managed to win the final three games to narrowly escape the upset.  On the Women’s side, the other American, Lily Zhang won her opening match against Petrissa Solja but then fell 1-3 to Doo Hoi Kem.

So far, only one top seed is out of the Women’s event – as Japan’s Miyuu Kihara topped Germany’s Ying Han 3-1.  So far, those that have reached the Quarters includ Chen Meng, Hina Hayata, Mima Ito, Wang Yidi, and Doo Hoi Kem.  Round of 16 matches are still underway.

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