Johnnie Torjussen was knocked out of the men’s singles second round of the LI-NING Czech Open after a three-set encounter that went right down to the wire.
After successfully defeating German Fabian Roth in two sets, the world no.51 faced Finland’s Joakim Oldorff in the second round on Friday evening.
Oldorff took the first set 21-16 but the 22-year-old hit back in style, collecting eight consecutive points en route to level matters with a 21-11 second set win.
That left it all to play for in the decider, with neither player letting up their determination to get into the third round and Torjussen matching Oldorff’s skill.
But it proved just out of reach for Torjussen, as Oldorff just edged past the Englishman by two points to seal the victory 23-21.
Jonty Russ and Sam Smith lost 21-17 21-10 to Malaysia’s Jan Yan Ng and Tien Chi Wong on Friday evening in the Czech Republic after successfully qualifying the day before in the men’s doubles.
The first set saw Russ and Smith stay in touch with the Malaysian duo, who ultimately pulled clear, but the second set was wrapped up in ruthless fashion as Jan and Tien won eight consecutive points.
Earlier in the day, the English partners had a very tight encounter with India’s Vasantha Kumar Hanumaiah Ranganatha and Ashith Surya, reaching the second round in heart-stopping fashion by coming through a decider 23-21.
Elsewhere in Brno, Avinash Gutpa and Brandon Zhi Hao Yap lost 21-15 21-13 to Russia’s Egor Kholkin and Alexandr Zinchenko in the first round of the men’s doubles.
Robert Golding, who was paired with Sri Lankan Dinuka Karunaratna, also fell at the first hurdle as Malaysian duo Yee Jun Chang and Roy King Yap triumphed 21-15 21-13.
In the women’s singles, Georgia Bland suffered a 21-17 21-13 defeat to Slovenian Petra Polanc in the second round having beaten Scot Holly Newall in a battle of the Brits earlier in the day.
In the first round, Freya Redfearn lost to Canadian Rachel Chan in a three-set thriller.
Redfearn took the opener 21-15 but Chan fought back to win 21-19 in a see-saw second game, and proved to have the endurance with a formidable 21-9 victory in a deciding set that saw the Canadian take 14 consecutive points.
Abigail Holden was also defeated in her first-round match to Malaysian Qi Xuan Eoon, 21-17 21-12, while Cholan Kayan lost in qualifying to Denmark’s Christopher Vittoriani.
