Soo caps bad day for Hong Kong paddlers with comeback kid Lam the only positive

“I could not anticipate where she was going to serve, so that really affected my confidence and I wasn’t so sure when I hit the ball. I didn’t know if I could get the ball on the table.”

Soo, the 2018 Asian Games bronze medallist, said nerves and a little rustiness hampered her performance.

“I am quite disappointed that I didn’t manage my mental game better. It wasn’t as good as hers,” Soo said.

“I kind of foresaw that I wouldn’t be very mentally stable in this first match because I haven’t played an international tournament for almost a year and a half and I was so nervous before the match.

“I guess this match could be a warm-up and I truly hope that I can play better in the team event,” Soo added.

Lam produced one of the best performances of his career to overhaul the deficit to Gnanasekaran, the 26th seed, who had been almost faultless in the opening four games before a seismic collapse.

“I had difficulty receiving his service in the first four sets, so I changed my strategy to use my forehand to receive his service after that and the result was good,” Lam said. “In the seventh game, he became more conservative and lost focus and I became more stable.”

The 24-year-old admitted to almost feeling down and out with his opponent so dominant and 3-1 in front.

“At 1-3 down I thought I would lose,” Lam said. “But in the fifth game, I changed my strategy, and then I thought there was some chance, and I tried to play safe and put the ball on the table.”

Lam’s reward for his second round win is a meeting with Japanese phenomenon and third seed Tomokazu Harimoto.

The 18-year-old, a silver medallist at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympics in 2018, is considered to be the only real threat to the dominance of China’s top seeds Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha, who are in action on Monday.

Wong Chun-ting’s men’s singles third-round match on Monday is against Taiwan’s Chuang Chih-yuan at 3.30pm Hong Kong time.