Easy for Ma Long in Doha as Samsonov gets knocked out

World number one Ma Long of China eased past Qatar's Li Ping on day one of the Seamaster ITTF World Tour Finals where European table tennis giant Vladimir Samsonov was shocked by Japan's Yuto Muramatsu yesterday.  
In a quality men's singles clash, Ma Long produced an attacking game to beat Li Ping, winning the round of 16 match 4-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-8.
Muramatsu, meanwhile, won the first two games before suffering a mid-match crisis but the Japanese giants was quick to recover fast and reach the quarter-finals
The 20-year-old Japanese won 11-5, 11-7, 5-11, 6-11, 1-11, 11-9, 11-6.
In other games, Chun Ting Wong beat Kenta Matsudaira 6-11, 12-14, 11-8, 13-11, 11-9, 14-16, 11-8. Wong will now play Ma Long in the quarter-finals.
In the women's singles, Japan's Kasumi Ishikawa, the no.2 seed, yesterday beat Korea's Hyowon Suh 8-11, 2-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-8, 6-11, 11-5.
“I was nervous receiving her service, I made mistakes; in the third game when she took the injury break, it enabled to calm myself and focus," Ishikawa said.
In a one-side clash, China's Yuling Zhu crushed Hitomi Sato in four games. Zhu won 11-3, 11-6, 11-5, 11-3.
Former Asian Games star Yana Tie of Hong Kong beat Yuka Ishigaki 9-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 11-4.
In the Men’s Doubles competition, there was one upset and almost a second as Hong Kong’s Ho Kwan Kit and Tang Pang, the no.6 seeds, beat Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan and Huang Sheng-Sheng, the no.4 seeds 10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-7, 3-11, 7-11, 11-6.
Korea’s Jeoung Youngsik and Lee Sangsu, the no.2 seeds, struggled to beat Japan’s Koki Niwa and Maharu Yoshimura, the no.7 seeds, winning 11-6, 4-11, 10-12, 16-14, 14-12, 9-11, 16-14.
Action in the four-day table tennis gala continues today at Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena where games commence at 1:00pm with the last fixture of the day kicking off at 8.30pm.
The women's single quarter-finals start at 5:30pm while the men's singles last-eight clashes begin at 7.30pm today.