Sam Walker saved an incredible nine match points across three games – and then took his own first chance to win his first qualifying round match at WTT Star Contender Ljubljana.

However, he missed out in a decider in the second qualifying round, while Paul Drinkhall and Tin-Tin Ho are also out. Liam Pitchford & Anna Hursey lost in the first qualifying rounf of the Mixed Doubles to Brazil’s Hugo Calderano & Bruna Takahashi.

Walker (WR 223) was up against Payas Jain of India, ranked at No 155, in the first match and it turned into an epic five-game match lasting more than 63 minutes.

Jain was never behind in taking the first 11-7 and then came from 8-4 down on his way to winning the second 11-9.

The Indian led the third 10-8, 11-10 and 12-11, but Walker saved all four match points and then took his first chance, winning the game 14-12.

Walker led the fourth 9-8, having come from 8-4 down, though Jain brought up more match points at 10-9 and 12-11, which Walker also saved before he took his own second chance to win the game, the scoreline again 14-12.

The fifth saw Walker 3-0 up but 7-5 down, but two points in a row left it nicely poised at 7-7. Jain’s run of three points put him 10-7 up but Walker again proved to be ‘bulletproof’ as he won five on the bounce to seal the game by a 12-10 margin, and with it the match.

He next faced Park Ganghyeon (WR 93) of South Korea and it again went the distance. Park never trailed in the first and pulled steadily clear to win the first 11-4, but Walker hit back in style with an almost identical pattern in winning the second 11-5.

The third was tighter, Walker saving two game points and missing three of his own before a run of three points saw him prevail 16-14.

The Englishman was 10-4 down in the fourth and, though he saved four game points, Park then took his chance to force a decider.

Unfortunately for Walker, four points in a row from 2-2, and then another five in a row, saw Park take the game 11-3 to go through to the final qualifying round.

Paul Drinkhall, currently ranked at 293, was unable to advance to the second round, though he did lead world No 87 Baldwin Chan of Hong Kong after taking the first game 11-4.

Chan hit back 11-5 in the second and 11-9 in the third, but Drinkhall looked as if he would force a decider when he led the fourth 10-6.

Chan hit back to level and then held match points at 11-10, 12-11, 13-12 and 14-13, all of which were saved by Drinkhall. But the fifth one proved to be decisive for Chan.

In the Women’s Singles, Ho picked up a great win over Ivana Malobabic of Croatia, who at No 111 in the world is ranked 162 places above Ho.

It was pretty emphatic as Ho rarely trailed in any of the three games of her 11-5, 12-10, 11-4 victory and she took nine out of 10 points at the end to seal her passage to the next round.

She then played Zhu Ziyu of China (WR 203), but could not get close enough to her opponent, though she did get closer with every game before going out in three straight.

In the Mixed Doubles on Wednesday, Pitchford & Hursey of Wales were up against Brazilian pair Calderano & Takahashi and were not able to get a foothold in the match, though they did force a Brazilian timeout when they saved four game points in the first game.

That made it 10-9, but the Brazilians closed out the game next point and held the British duo at arm’s length for the rest of the match to go through in three straight (9, 5, 6).

Attention now turns to the main draw on Thursday, with Pitchford and Tom Jarvis representing England and Hursey Wales in their respective last 64 ties.

Pitchford faces Feng Yi-Hsin of Chinese Taipei – going into this event, Pitchford was just one place above his opponent in the rankings, at No 51.

Jarvis will face a qualifier – he will find out who on Wednesday night. Hursey (WR 71) will face Minhyung Jee (WR 40) of Australia in the Women’s Singles.

Results

Men’s Singles
Qualifying round 1
Baldwin Chan (HKG) bt Paul Drinkhall 3-1 (4-11, 11-5, 11-9, 16-14)
Sam Walker bt Payas Jain (IND) 3-2 (7-11, 9-11, 14-12, 14-12, 12-10)

Qualifying round 2
Park Ganghyeon (KOR) bt Walker 3-2 (11-4, 5-11, 14-16, 11-8, 11-3)

Women’s Singles
Qualifying round 1
Tin-Tin Ho bt Ivana Malobabic (CRO) 3-0 (11-5, 12-10, 11-4)

Qualifying round 2
Zhu Ziyu (CHN) bt Ho 3-0 (11-5, 11-7, 11-8)

Mixed Doubles
Qualifying round 1
Hugo Calderano & Bruna Takahashi (BRA) bt Liam Pitchford & Anna Hursey (WAL) 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-6)