Vladimir Samsonov, the 42-year-old 1998 European champion from Belarus, beat second seed Dmitrij Ovtcharov in the same competition today in Alicante ©ITTF

Twenty years after he won the men’s individual title, Vladimir Samsonov caused another flurry at the International Table Tennis Federation’s European Championships by beating the second seed, Dimitrij Ovtcharov.

The 42-year-old Belarus player, who has competed at the last six Olympics, earned a 9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 5-11, 11-5, 11-5 victory in the Spanish resort of Alicante over the German who began this year ranked world number one.

The ninth seed thus progressed to the quarter-finals, but there the comeback story ended as he was – eventually – beaten by Romania’s Ovidiu Ionescu, 7-11, 11-8, 12-10, 13-15, 11-13, 11-6, 9-11.

 Ionescu; the number 25 seed, had produced the other shock of the second round by defeating Denmark’s sixth-seeded Jonathan Groth, by20-18, 11-7, 5-11, 12-14, 11-8, 11-5.

Germany's top seed ended the run of 42-year-old Belarussian Vladimir Samsonov, the 1998 champion, in the ITTF European Championships at Alicante ©ITTF
Germany's top seed ended the run of 42-year-old Belarussian Vladimir Samsonov, the 1998 champion, in the ITTF European Championships at Alicante ©ITTF

Despite Ovtcharov’s surprise exit, Germany’s hopes in the men’s singles remain strong thanks to their former world number one and top seed Timo Boll.

He earned a second round win over England’s Liam Pitchford, the number 10 seed, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-4, 8-11, 11-9, and then easily won his quarter-final against Austria’s Daniel Habesohn 11-3, 11-4, 11-4, 11-9.

Germany have two men in the semi-finals following Patrick Franzika’s 11-7, 11-3, 7-11, 11-5, 11-9 win over compatriot Benedikt Duda, while the fourth man is Sweden’s Kristian Karlsson, who beat Marcos Freitas of Portugal 11-8, 5-11, 11-9, 11-5, 10-12, 6-11, 11-8.

Germany also experienced unexpected early success today in the women’s singles as three of its players – Petrissa Solja, Sabine Winter and Han Ying – overturned superior seeds.

Solja, seeded fifteenth, earned a quarter-final meeting with Austria’s Sofia Polcanova with an 11-8, 11-5, 12-10, 14-12 win over Hungary’s Georgina Pota, seeded eighth.

Winter, the number 14 seed, beat second seed Li Jie of The Netherlands 11-3, 12-10, 7-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, and Han Ying, seeded ninth, overwhelmed Sweden’s number six seed Matilda Ekholm 11-7, 11-7, 11-6, 11-3.

However, all three German quarter-finalists were defeated in the evening.

Solja was beaten 12-10, 6-11, 9-11, 8-11, 7-11 by Polcanova, Han lost 10-12, 9-11. 9-11. 11-4, 11-13 to Ukraine’s Margaryta Pesotska and Winter went down 3-11, 8-11, 8-11, 8-11 to Poland’s Katarzyna Grzybowska-Franc.

But Poland’s hopes were carried into the last four by Li Qian, who beat Rumania’s Bernadette Szocs 11-9, 11-6, 14-16, 11-6, 11-7.