European Champion Dang Qiu also won his second singles match at the Table Tennis World Championships in South Africa.
The 26-year-old from Borussia Düsseldorf defeated Sathiyan Gnanasekaran from India in 4-0 sets and, like Dimitrij Ovtcharov, who came third in the Olympics the night before, made it through to the third round.
“Overall, I played very, very well today,” said Qiu. “It was an improvement on my first game. At the World Cup there are only rounds in which there are no longer any weak opponents. I have to be there from the start.”
In the round of 16, the world champion threatens
Should the two top German players win their next two games in Durban, they would meet in the quarter-finals of this World Cup. However, Dang Qiu is already threatened with a duel with world champion and world number one fan Zhendong from China in the round of 16.
Patrick Franziska continues
In the evening, Patrick Franziska also secured participation in round three. He clearly won 4-0 against the Australian Xavier Dixon, in which he only lost ten rallies.
Without the old champion Timo Boll, who injured his shoulder, the German hopes in the men’s singles rest on Qiu (Düsseldorf) and Ovtcharov (Neu-Ulm), who took third place at the Olympics in London and Tokyo. In the third round on Wednesday, he will fight against the Croatian Tomislav Pucar for a place in the round of 16.