Wales and Great Britain’s Anna Hursey made a winning start to the doubles at the World Youth Championships in Romania, but England’s Kacper Piwowar was unable to replicate her success.

Hursey, playing the Under-19 Mixed Doubles alongside Iulian Chirita of Romania, had a tough draw against Wen Ruibo & Zong Geman in the first round.

When they lost the first two games 11-9 and 12-10, it was a long way back, notwithstanding the close scorelines. So when the Europeans romped into a 10-1 lead in the third, it was something of a surprise.

They went on to win that 11-4 and levelled up with an 11-9 margin in Game 4 – they were two points from going out but won five in a row from 9-6 down. With belief now flowing, they pulled away from 4-4 in the deciding to take it 11-8.

They then faced the third seeds, Steven Moreno & Edmarie Leon of Puerto Rico, in the last 16 and won it in three straight, albeit in close games once again.

The first was 11-9 – the won two points from 9-9, and the second 13-11 as they took their fourth game point. They then won the third 11-9, again from 9-9.

In the quarter-finals, they will face Flavien Coton & Leana Hochart of France.

Piwowar was partnering Mariia Lytvyn in the Under-15 Mixed and the pair had an opening at 9-8 up in the first against higher-ranked Ritvik Gupta & Ananya Muralidharan of India in the round of 32.

But that was as good as it got as their opponents won three points in a row to take the first and went on to complete a 3-0 (9, 5, 5) victory.

Piwowar & Mark Gergely begin their campaign in the U15 Boys’ Doubles on Wednesday, against second seeds Zhou Ghuanhong & Yu Haiyang of China.

Hursey & Mia Griesel of Germany will face Sally Moyland (USA) & Kheith Cruz (PHI) in the first round of the U19 Girls’ Doubles.

The singles gets under way on Thursday, with Piwowar up against third seed Danilo Faso of Italy and Hursey – top seed in the U19s – facing Czechia’s Veronika Polakova.

Piwowar has a big task against Faso, who was the youngest player competing at the senior European Team Championships last month and who has shone in the team competition at this event, winning two matches at deuce in the fifth as Italy beat China in the semi-finals. They went on to lose 3-2 to Chinese Taipei in the final, Faso winning one of his two matches.

Results

Under-19 Mixed Doubles
Round of 32
Iulian Chirita (ROU) & Anna Hursey (WAL) bt Wen Ruibo & Zong Geman (CHN) 3-2 (9-11, 10-12, 11-4, 11-9, 11-8)

Round of 16
Chirita & Hursey bt Steven Moreno & Edmarie Leon (PUR) 3-0 (11-9, 13-11, 11-9)

Under-15 Mixed Doubles
Round of 32
Ritvik Gupta & Ananya Muralidharan (IND) bt Kacper Piwowar & Mariia Lytvyn (AUT) 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-5)