体坛英语新闻：Chinese table tennis stars through to last 16 at Hungarian Open

BUDAPEST, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- All the Chinese top seeds in both men's and women's events at the Hungarian Table Tennis Open, the first of 15 stages of the 2012 International Table Tennis Federation World Tour, safely made it through to the last 16 on Thursday.

Top seed Ma Long, second seed Zhang Jike, Xu Xin (4), Ma Lin (5), and Chen Qi (7) all made it through to round three of the men's singles in Budapest. Third seed Wang Hao had earlier withdrawn from the tournament due to injury.

There were several upsets in the first two rounds, with four young Europeans beating more fancied Asian opponents. Eighth seed Gao Ning of Singapore fell to 19 year-old Frenchman Romani Lorentz in a five games match.

Earlier, Lorentz's compatriot, 17 year-old Simon Gauzy defeated tenth seed Kim Min Seok, also in five games. 25 year-old Croatian Tomislav Zubcic then knocked out 11th seed Li Hu of Singapore, while 14th seed Seo Hyun Deok of South Korea also lost to Adam Lindner of Hungary. Lindner was beaten in the following round by Andrew Baggaley of England in a dramatic five-game match, 11-9 in the deciding game.

Zubcic takes on Ma Long in the final 16 on Friday, while Gauzy will play Chen Qi. Second seed Zhang Jike plays German ninth seed Bastian Steger, while Xu Xin takes on the unseeded Baggaley.

In the women's singles, there were fewer shocks with the top seeds, including China's Ding Ning, Guo Yan, Li Xiaoxia, Liu Shiwen, and Fan Ying all safely through to round three. 17th seed Georgina Pota of Hungary caused the surprise of the day when she beat eighth seed Sun Beibei of Singapore.

The round of 16 and the quarter-finals take place on Friday, while the semi-finals and final are on Saturday.