Sam Walker, Connor Green and Tianer Yu made winning starts to their European Championships campaigns in Slovenia, but there was defeat for Ella Pashley.

Walker had to dig deep to get past Tugay Yilmaz of Turkiye in his first Men’s Singles group match, 14-12 in the fifth having led 2-0. He has further group matches against Anders Eriksson of Sweden and neutral athlete Nikita Artemenko to come.

Yu’s Women’s Singles victory was much more straightforward, coming in three straight (7, 5, 5) against Sabina Musajeva of Latvia. She will face a tougher challenge against Katarzyna Wegrzyn of Poland in her other group match on Tuesday.

Pashley was defeated in three (2, 4, 5) by Hanka Kodet of Czechia and also plays Sara Tokic of Slovenia in her group on Monday.

Liam Pitchford and Connor Green started their campaigns on Monday – Green picked up a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Andrii Grebeniuk of Ukraine. He plays Eitay Shushan of Israel in his second and final group match on Tuesday.

Pitchford started with a 3-0 (9, 5, 5) win over Aleksi Rasanen of Finland. He also has Italian youngster Danilo Faso in his group – that match in on Tuesday afternoon.

Tom Jarvis and Tin-Tin Ho are seeded into the main draws of their respective singles.

In the Women’s Doubles, Yu & Pashley had an agonising defeat in the first qualifying round, going down 12-10 in the fifth to Martine Toftaker & Christine Kalvatn of Norway, having twice fought back from a game down to level the match. Ho & Wales’ Anna Hursey are seeded into the main draw.

Walker & Yu got through their first qualifying match in the Mixed Doubles, beating Lithuanian pair Ignas Sisanovas & Lukrecija Juchnaite in four, but then lost out in four to Sweden’s Elias Ranefur & Filippa Bergand, the second highest-ranked pair in qualifying, in the second round. Ranefur & Bergand will face Green & Ho in the round of 32.

Ranefur will be a familiar opponent for English athletes by the end of the championships – Pitchford & Walker start their Men’s Doubles campaign against him and world No 4 Truls Moregard. Jarvis & Green are seeded into the main draw.

Results

Men’s Singles
Qualifying group 13
Connor Green bt Andrii Grebeniuk (UKR) 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5)

Qualifying group 19
Liam Pitchford bt Aleksi Rasanen (FIN) 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-5)

Qualifying group 31
Sam Walker bt Tugay Yilmaz (TUR) 3-2 (11-7, 11-7, 4-11, 7-11, 14-12)

Women’s Singles
Qualifying group 4
Tianer Yu bt Sabina Musajeva (LAT) 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-5)

Qualifying group 16
Hanka Kodet (CZE) bt Ella Pashley 3-0 (11-2, 11-4, 11-5)

Women’s Doubles
First qualifying round
Martine Toftaker & Christine Kalvatn (NOR) bt Tianer Yu & Ella Pashley 3-2 (11-9, 8-11, 11-6, 9-11, 12-10)

Mixed Doubles
First qualifying round
Sam Walker & Tianer Yu bt Ignas Sisanovas & Lukrecija Juchnaite (LTU) 3-1 (7-11, 11-2, 11-9, 12-10)

Second qualifying round
Elias Ranefur & Filippa Bergand (SWE) by Walker & Yu 3-1 (11-8, 14-16, 11-8, 12-10)