(by Steve Hopkins)
A week after reaching the Semifinals of a WTT Champion Series event, USA’s Kanak Jha pulled off the biggest first day upset at the Europe Smash. Jha, currently World No. 31, upset World No. 17 Anders Lind. Jha, who appears to be playing the best table tennis of his life was twice behind after losing the first and third games, but Jha dominated the final two games closing out the match 11-5 and 11-6.
In a similar script two a week ago, Jha now advances to face another player that pulled off an upset in the same round. World No. 32 Simon Gauzy took out World No. 26 Lin Gaoyuan. Gauzy and Jha will now face off on Tuesday in the Round of 32 – and both have already secured $6,000 USD in prize money and 90 ranking points.
Elsewhere in early action, Omar Assar defeated Quadri Aruna and will next face Lin Shidong. Ovtcharov eliminated Xiang Peng (a second Chinese loss in the first round), and Luxemborug’s Luka Mladenovic had a surprise win over Kirill Gerassimenko of Kazakhstan. Only half of the draw was played on Sunday, so 16 matches are still to be played in the opening round. Hugo Calderano, Felix Lebrun, Patrick Franziska, and Truls Moregard are among the big names yet to see action.
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