Earlier on Wednesday, Truls Möregårdh and Anton Källberg were knocked out of the doubles tournament – when the star brothers Félix and Alexis Lebrun proved to be too tough.
Möregårdh has been struggling with a troublesome shoulder during the tournament, which has affected his game. After the loss to the French brothers, the 23-year-old did not have time to stand up for an interview, but Källberg believed that his doubles partner was in pain when he played.
But he could play somewhat. I hope he can play as he wants in singles, said Källberg to SVT.
Tight match
Möregårdh faced Kao Cheng-Jui to play, but the troublesome shoulder made itself known in sequences throughout the match.
The Taiwanese took home the first set, 5–11, largely thanks to a strong start with a five-point lead in the beginning.
Möregårdh would, however, level the score and take the lead in the match through two set wins, 11–8 and 11–7. Thus, the Swedish table tennis star had a grip on the round of 16 spot.
A grip that seemed to become even more stable with a five-point lead in the subsequent set. But Kao would come back and level the match.
Then, however, Möregårdh was strongest and could take home two straight sets (11–4, 11–3) and now awaits the South Korean Jang Woo-Jin in the round of 16.
"Shocked"
I didn't think this match would look like this when I woke up this morning and could barely lift the milk carton at breakfast. So it feels damn cool that it went so well that I could move the way I wanted, he says to SVT.
For Kristian Karlsson, it stopped in the round of 16 in the singles tournament, losing 1–4 in sets. Not so surprising perhaps, since the 20-year-old world number one Lin Shidong was on the other side.
Thus, the 33-year-old is eliminated from the singles tournament – where the possibility of an all-Swedish round of 16 is gone. For Lin Shidong's next opponent will now be Anton Källberg, who defeated the Japanese Maharu Yoshimura with 4–0 in sets.
The 27-year-old Swede won the first set, which was fairly even, 12–10, and could then continue on the beaten track.
Kristian Karlsson is, however, still in the doubles tournament, together with Mattias Falck, where the Lebrun brothers await for their part.
