A sickness bug ruined Liam Pitchford’s hopes of repeating last year’s run to the semi-finals of the Europe Top 16 in Montreux.

Both Pitchford and coach John Murphy had a bug, resulting in a sleepless night before the first-round match against top seed Felix Lebrun of France.

It made for a difficult match, in which Pitchford was beaten in four (11-8, 11-2, 11-6, 11-9).

The competition was won by Darko Jorgic of Slovenia, who beat Truls Moregard of Sweden in the final. The women’s event final saw Jia Nan Yuan of France defeat Austria’s Sofia Polcanova.

Pitchford will hope for better luck as he flies from Switzerland to India for the WTT Star Contender Goa, which starts on Tuesday. Also in the field are Tin-Tin Ho and Sam Walker.