Kacper Piwowar found third seed Danilo Faso of Italy too hot to handle as he was defeated in four straight matches at the World Youth Championships in Romania.
Piwowar had a difficult task in the under-15 boys’ singles against Faso, the youngest player who took part in the European Senior Team Championships last month and who shone in the team competition at this event.
He won two games on deuce in the fifth as Italy defeated China in the semi-finals – they then lost 3–2 to Chinese Taipei in the final, with 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 were level at 3–3, Faso pulled away to win the first game, losing by just one more point.
Piwowar led 4-3 in the second, but once again Faso put his foot down and won five points in a row to take control of a match he eventually won 11-6.
It was the same scoreline in game three, with Faso leading 7-1, and the Italian wrapped up the victory in the fourth by an 11-4 margin.
Meanwhile, Wales’ Anna Hursey began her quest for a third medal, after guaranteeing two in the doubles competitions, by beating Czech Veronika Polakova in the last 32 of the Under-19 Girls’ Singles.
The top seed trailed for most of the first game and only took the lead at 10-9. That was part of a five-point run in which she won the match 11-9.
She continued to find it difficult to shake off her opponent in the second and saw Polakova save three game points before Hursey grabbed her fourth chance to claim a 12-10 match.
Hursey was more dominant in the third, which she won 11-5, but Polakova hit back with a six-point run from 5-4 on her way to winning the fourth 11-6.
However, it only slowed Hursey down as she had no trouble moving back from 7-4 to 7-7 by winning the next four points and advancing 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 is on Friday morning.
Results
Boys singles under 15 years old
Round of 32
Danilo Faso (ITA) vs Kacper Piwowar 4-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4)
Girls singles under 19 years old
Round of 32
Anna Hursey (WAL) v Veronika Polakova (CZE) 4-1 (11-9, 12-10, 11-5, 6-11, 11-7)
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