Stacey through to men's class 9 quarterfinals
Joshua Stacey came through his last 16 match in the men’s class 9 singles in session 1 at the South Paris Arena 4 in Paris today, beating Lev Kats from Ukraine 3-1.
The 24-year-old Welshman looked sharp from the first ball and took the first set 11-7. He led 10-7 in the second before taking it 12-10 to lead 2-0 but having fought back from 8-3 down in the third to level at 8-8 he lost it 11-8 after a couple of forehand errors and a backhand into the net.
To his credit Stacey refocused and although Kats saved three match points at 10-4 down Stacey secured the set 11-7 and the match 3-1.
“I think I played pretty well,” he said. “I was solid enough where I didn’t really feel that the match had any sort of peaks or troughs - it was very much streamlined in one direction which is always a nice feeling to have when you’re playing. In the third set I think maybe I made a few unforced errors and managed to reset when I was 8-3 down and got back to 8-8 but to be fair he did play two good points to go 10-8 up and that’s table tennis. Going into the fourth I knew if I was solid and tried to direct my backhand a little bit less passively and go to the areas I wanted to go to with intent it just took the time away from him being able to play a full stroke and that then allowed me to get on top of him and attack.
“The atmosphere in the hall is great. It’s a bit strange because you’ll be starting a point and you hear a roar but it was obviously because the Frenchman (Lucas) Didier was in there so it can be a little bit strange at times. Luckily although the doubles didn’t go as well as I’d have liked it has given me the experience and I know it’s going to happen so I’m more accustomed to it than I would have been if I hadn’t played the doubles.”
Stacey now faces a quarterfinal against World number two Ma Lin, the Chinese born former World and Paralympic champion who now represents Australia and who Stacey beat to win Commonwealth gold in 2022.
“When you’ve played everyone so much - as we all have,” he said, “you’ve got a rough idea of how those first six points will normally dictate how you’re going to play during the game. I’m sure there are going to be a fair few topspin rallies and hopefully I’m winning most of them.”
Will Bayley (men’s class 7), Rob Davies and Tom Matthews (men’s class 1) are all in quarterfinal action in session 2 this evening.
Photo courtesy of ITTF