Kacper Piwowar found third seed Danilo Faso of Italy too hot to handle as he was defeated in four straight games at the World Youth Championships in Romania.

Piwowar had a difficult task in the Under-15 Boys’ Singles against Faso, who was the youngest player competing at the senior European Team Championships last month and who shone in the team competition at this event.

He won 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.

In this round of 32 singles clash, Faso continued his good form as he never let Piwowar gain a foothold in the match.

Faso won the first three points and, although Piwowar levelled at 3-3, Faso powered away to win the first game for the loss of only one more point.

Piwowar led 4-3 in the second, but again Faso put his foot down and won five points in a row to take charge of a game he went on to win 11-6.

It was the same score in game three, which Faso led 7-1, and the Italian closed out victory in the fourth by an 11-4 margin.

Meanwhile, Anna Hursey of Wales started her quest for a third medal, having guaranteed two in the doubles competitions, by defeating Czechia’s Veronika Polakova in the last 32 of the Under-19 Girls’ Singles.

The top seed spent most of the first game behind and did not actually take the lead until 10-9. That was part of a run of five points which saw her take the game 11-9.

She continued to find her opponent tough to shake off in the second, seeing Polakova save three game points before Hursey took her fourth chance, claiming a 12-10 game.

Hursey was more dominant in the third, which she won 11-5, but Polakova hit back with a run of six points from 5-4 down on her way to taking the fourth 11-6.

It only delayed Hursey, however, as she made light of being pegged back from 7-4 up to 7-7 by winning the next four points to move through to the last 16.

She will face the winner of the match between Ukraine’s Veronika Matiunina and India’s Syndrela Das. The round of 16 matches are on Friday morning.

Results

Under-15 Boys’ Singles
Round of 32
Danilo Faso (ITA) bt Kacper Piwowar 4-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4)

Under-19 Girls’ Singles
Round of 32
Anna Hursey (WAL) bt Veronika Polakova (CZE) 4-1 (11-9, 12-10, 11-5, 6-11, 11-7)