WTT Feeder Czech Republic: Sgouropoulos ended his excellent run in positions 5-8 of the singles

Yannis Sgouropoulos reached the fourth round of the men’s singles World Table Tennis Feeder of the Czech Republic chased another victory against a Chinese athlete on Saturday, this time against Zheng Beisun, he gave a “fight”, maintaining the good competitive face of these days in Olomouc, until he broke with a 3-1 set.

Thus, he placed 5-8 in a strong tournament and it is his second such high placing in international competition after the WTT Feeder in Lebanon last March. With his total of three victories and his appearances, the Eleusinian ace made an excellent start to the new season, he made promises for the continuation and he will take 25 points in the world ranking.

As in Beirut, he was coached by his father, Nikos, a former international table tennis player, while we remind you that in the Czech Feeder and also in the singles, Malamatenia Papadimitriou also took part, who was eliminated in the first round.

Sgouropoulos went into today’s quarter-final with four points from both of Friday’s hard-fought wins against Czech Pavel Sirucek and China’s Wen Ruibo. The Asian, in fact, started as the second favorite of the board and is the current world runner-up in the teenage singles.

Of course, he didn’t have the role of favorite even with Zheng Beisun, after all, the very capable Chinese is number 11 in the competition and he himself was number 20 in the seeding.

Sgouropoulos knew, however, that he could cause new “damage” to a representative of the dominant force of the sport, and he tried. He performed well in this particular match as well, but the difference was made by some very productive periods of the Chinese and, thus, came the defeat with 3-1 sets and the exclusion from the top four.

Sgouropoulos made a good start and took a 4-2 lead. From that point on, however, Zheng picked up a very good rhythm, he served well and correctly blocked the serves of our athlete, as a result of which he passed his game and made it 1-0 with a long run.

The Eleusinian ace also gained a lead in the second set with 3-0 and 5-2. The Chinese came close with 6-5 and there Sgouropoulos lost his serve and momentarily got nervous. He managed it perfectly and with consecutive points he went to 9-6. The closing of the set was exciting. Zheng passed attacks and equalized, our champion won set balls 10-9 on his serve, tied with the help of luck on the opponent’s backhand and finally it was 2-0 in overtime.

Committed to his tactics, Sgouropoulos continued at a good pace, found himself in front again in the third set and most importantly had composure and excellent shots in the most pressing moments when he accepted the tie at 5-5 and took the time out.

In the fourth set, Zheng made an “explosive” start and took a 4-1 lead. With a quality serve and spin in difficult spots he increased the advantage, Sgouropoulos did not find solutions and the formation of the final score came with a difference (5-11, 10-12, 11-7, 4-11).