BERLIN, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- China's top men's singles player Xu Xin advanced to the round of 16 along with compatriot Fan Zhendong at the ITTF German Open here on Thursday.
Xu beat Frenchman Simon Gauzy 4-1 with scores of 11-4, 6-11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-3.
Fan also lodged a 4-1 win, defeating Quadri Aruna of Nigeria with scores of 8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 14-12, 11-7, though he was critical of his performance after the match.
"I did not play well and did not play to my actual level," admitted Fan afterwards. "I feel that every game was not easy to play and I made plenty of mistakes. Especially in the first game, I felt very uneasy and faced several difficulties. In the third and fourth games, I was also trying to find a way to get myself going. I had to fight hard to play."
Xu will now face South Korea's Lee Sang-su, while Fan takes on fellow countryman Wang Chuqin in the round of 16.
Elsewhere, Germany's Timo Boll resisted a comeback attempt by China's Zhou Qihao to win 4-3 with scores of 11-9, 11-9, 13-11, 3-11, 7-11, 11-4, and veteran Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus edged Britain's Liam Pitchford 4-3 after the two traded the first six sets. Tomokazu Harimoto, Lin Gaoyuan and Liang Jingkun also made it into the next round.
The German Open is the fifth round of six in the Platinum series, as the players fight for points to qualify for the season-ending 2019 ITTF World Tour Grand Final from 12 to 15 December.
