The second day of play at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Doha saw a strong start from Charlotte LUTZ of France. Ranked No. 92 in the world, LUTZ came from two games down to defeat Korea’s Eunhye LEE (World No. 52) 4-2 (7-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 12-10, 11-8). European champion Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria, seeded No. 12, overcame Orawan PARANANG of Thailand in six games. In the Round of 64, she will face Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romania, who defeated another Thai representative, Jinnipa PARANANG, in the opening round. Germany’s Annett KAUFMANN made a dominant start to her Women’s Singles campaign, cruising past NG Wing Lam of Hong Kong in straight games. “I go to the table with confidence and give my best,” said KAUFMANN, looking ahead to her upcoming clash with China’s Chen Xingtong. “I believe I can cause problems for the world No. 3.” Despite ongoing foot issues, KAUFMANN stayed focused and also impressed in doubles alongside Xiaona SHAN, defeating the Canadian pair Ivy LAO / Mo ZHANG. “We trained together before the Olympics, but this is our first tournament as a pair. Overall, we played well,” commented SHAN. KAUFMANN added: “My foot still hurts a bit, but our physios tape it up so well I barely notice it. We get along really well, and I trust Nana completely.” It was the opposite outcome for Germany’s Xiaona SHAN in singles. She lost to Turkey’s Sibel ALTINKAYA 3-4 (–5, 7, 7, 9, –9, –7, –4), despite leading 3:1 and 9:5 in the fifth game. Ioana SINGEORZAN of Romania overcame Audrey ZARIF of France in straight games. In the second round, she will meet No. 9 seed Yubin SHIN of Korea. In another all-European encounter, Giorgia PICCOLIN of Italy defeated Lilou MASSART of Belgium in straight games. Germany’s Sabine WINTER also advanced with a 4-0 win over Mariam ALHODABY. “I’m happy with the 4-0 win. My regular game worked well, although my anti-spin shots were a bit shaky. I’m looking forward to the next match,” said WINTER, who will face Hanitra RAHARIMANANA of Madagascar in the Round of 64. Jieni SHAO of Portugal defeated CHANG Li Sian of Malaysia 4-2 and will next face No. 7 seed Satsuki ODO of Japan. Poland’s Natalia BAJOR came through a 4-2 win over Singapore’s Li Qian SER. Two Serbian players also secured spots in the second round: Andrea TODOROVIC and Izabela LUPULESKU.

On the opening day of competition at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals Doha 2025, last week’s European Under 21 Men’s Singles runner-up, Iulian CHIRITA of Romania, made a confident performance on the global stage. Ranked 88th in the world, CHIRITA upset world No. 38 Finn LUU of Australia in straight games to reach the second round (12-10, 11-3, 11-8, 11-7). “It was a tough match because we know each other quite well,” said CHIRITA. “I tried to focus and stick to my game plan from the beginning, and it worked well. Even when I was ahead, he showed great mentality and kept pushing, but I stayed focused on executing my tactics.” France’s Felix LEBRUN, seeded sixth, also advanced with a commanding 4-0 win over Slovakia’s Lubomir PISTEJ (11-7, 11-5, 11-9, 11-8). “It doesn’t really matter if I win 4-0, 4-1, or 4-2 — the goal was simply to reach the second round, and I’m happy to have done that,” said LEBRUN. “We had a great 10-day training camp with the French team before this, which was very valuable since it’s hard to align schedules. I also played well at WTT Contender Tunis 2025 just before, so I’m feeling confident about my form. Let’s see what happens next.” Germany’s Dang QIU needed all seven games to overcome Filip ZELJKO of Croatia, coming back from a 4-6 deficit in the decider to win. His doubles partner Benedikt DUDA also faced a tough start, losing the first game against Ecuador’s Alberto MIÑO, but responded well to claim victory in five. The win was particularly meaningful for DUDA, who had suffered a first-round exit to ZELJKO two years ago at the World Championships in Durban. “It was a tough battle with myself,” DUDA reflected. Slovenia’s Darko JORGIC, seeded 11th, progressed to the round of 64 with a straight-sets win over Madagascar’s Fabio RAKOTOARIMANANA (11-4, 12-10, 11-6, 11-4). There were also strong performances from several other European players. Tomislav PUCAR of Croatia defeated Izaac QUEK of Singapore, while Romania’s Eduard IONESCU overcame Aly GHALLAB of Egypt. Austria’s Robert GARDOS prevailed against Belgium’s Cedric NUYTINCK, Sweden’s Kristian KARLSSON secured a win over Lubomir JANCARIK of Czechia, and England’s Tom JARVIS defeated Benedek OLAH of Finland. “He’s a very tricky player with a lot of quality. If you’re not focused, he can make it very tough,” said JARVIS. “I lost a close match to him at the end of last year, so I reviewed that game carefully with my coach, created a new game plan, and prepared well. I’m trying not to focus on results — just on executing the plan and performing at my best. If that leads to a win, great. Then it’s on to the next one.” Spain’s Alvaro ROBLES also impressed with a 4-2 win over Croatia’s Andrej GACINA. “I think I played quite well today. I knew it would be a tough match. I’ve known Andrej for a long time — he was one of the players I looked up to when I moved to Germany to turn professional. It’s a great honour to face him and to come away with the win,” said ROBLES.