The 2019 Australian Open main draw has begun!

Last week saw Xu Xin victorious at the Korean Open defeating World Champion Ma Long in the semi final and host nations Jeoung Youngsik in the final. The World Tour circuit now moves onto the Australian Open which is now in the last 32 stage.

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Xu Xin victorious against Ma Long at lasts weeks Korean Open - Photo: ITTF Flickr

After a tough preliminary stage, the top 16 seeds were placed against the successful qualifiers in the round of 32.

Fan Zhendong, the top seed, faced the in-form Kristian Karlsson. He came through in a tight 7 set match winning 4-3. The Chinese powerhouse showed he could cope whilst being put under pressure by the tenacious Swede.

Comfortable 4-0 victories for some of the seeded men including Patrick Franziska, Jang Woojin, Mattias Falck and Lin Gaoyuan the number 2 seed.

World number 1 Xu Xin dispatched Darko Jorgic 4-1 and Jonathan Groth continued his solid run from the preliminary rounds with a 4-2 victory over Jun Mizutani. Groth will play Liang Jingkun in the last 16 tomorrow.

Ma Long relaxed into his match against Mizuki Oikawa winning 4-2. The Olympic Champion overcame the Japanese player relatively comfortably and seemed to be warming up for the tougher last 16 round.
The last 16 matches are going to be a big test for some players…

Liam Pitchford the 14th seed faces youngster Wang Chuqin of China. The Englishman came through a close match against Cho Daeseong from Korea in the last 32.

Ma Long Faces Dimitrij Ovtcharov. This is a tough draw for the German who will want to follow in the footsteps of Timo Boll and take out the ‘GOAT’. Ma Long has a good record against Dima and will be looking to continue to the later rounds.

There are still 6 Chinese players remaining in the main draw. The other players will be keen to get some big wins in this highly prestigious tournament.

An interesting match up between Marcos Freitas and Brazilian Hugo Calderano. Both players will be keen to progress to the later rounds and have a crack at the Chinese!

Stay tuned for more updates on this tournament.
 
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