MUSCAT: Men's top seed Liang Jingkun of China battled past French qualifier Alexandre Cassin to enter the last 16 of the WTT Contender Muscat 2022 at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex on Wednesday.
The World No 5 was stunned by 115th-ranked Cassin in the first set to take it 11-1. The Chinese champion was back to his self in the next three games to win 11-4, 11-9, 11-6.
China's Zhou Qihao (World No 112) upset World No 54 Ibrahima Diaw of Senegal 3-1 to book his last 16 clash against compatriot Jingkun. Qihao won 6-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-4.
World No 49 Ahmed Saleh of Egypt prevailed over World No 69 Joao Monteiro of Portugal 3-1 (11-4, 5-11, 11-7, 11-8 to set up a last-16 clash with Jon Persson of Sweden.
World No 44 Persson edged World No 20 Simon Gauzy 3-2 in a tight tussle with scores of 12-10, 7-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-7. After losing the first set, the Frenchman came back brilliantly to take the second and third sets. But Persson had the last laugh after claiming the last two sets comfortably.
World No 12 Wang Chuqin beat 51st ranked Vitor Ishiy of Brazil 3-1 to book a place in last 16.
The Chinese player will meet compatriot Zhao Zihao in the last 16 after Zihao beat another Chinese player Xu Yingbin 3-1.
China's Xiang Peng will take on World No 24 Chuang Chih-Yuan of Chinese Taipei in the last 16.
Peng accounted for Bence Majoros of Hungary, while Chuang blanked Oman's Muhannad al Balushi 3-0.
SIQI UPSET DIAZ
In women's section, China's Fan Siqi will take on Jia Nan Yuan of France in the last 16.
Siqi upset World No 11 Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico 3-1, while Yuan edged Sreeja Akula of India 3-2.
Italy's Debora Vivarelli prevailed over Australia's Minhyung Jee 3-2 to set up a last-16 clash against
Portugal's Jieni Shao. Shao beat Bruna Takahashi of Brazil 3-1.
India's Archana Girish Kamath earned a last-16 encounter against China's Xiaoxin Yang after a 3-1 victory over Mo Zhang of Canada. Yang ended the challenge of 67th ranked Melanie Diaz of
Puerto Rico 3-1.
In the women's doubles, Indian pair of Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee will meet Czech Republic's Zdena Blaskova and Katerina Tomanovska in the quarterfinal.
Another Indian pair Sreeja Akula and Selena Selvakumar also made it to the last eight and will meet Goi Rui Xuan and Wong Xin Ru for a place in the last four.
Chinese pair of Qian Tianyi and Chen Xingtong will take on Chinese Taipei's Chen Szu-Yu and Li Yu-Jhun, while another Chinese pair of Zhang Rui and Kuai Man take on Hungarian duo of Leila Imre and Mercedes Nagyvaradi in the other quarterfinals of the women's doubles.
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