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.
