Britain's Pitchford makes World Championships last-32

Going into the event in Suzhou, Pitchford had found his preparations disrupted by slight shoulder issues.

But the world number 62 started his campaign confidently, impressing in particular with a 4-2 second-round victory over world number 20 Tiago Apolonia.

That result meant he became the first Englishman since Matthew Syed and Carl Prean in 1999 to reach the last 32 of the World Championships.

That would ultimately be as far as he would go however, as he bowed out to Saehyuk Joo of Korea to miss out on a last-16 clash with world number one and top seed Ma Long of China - although Pitchford was in philosophical mood.

"I'm happy with the tournament and how it's gone and hopefully next time I'll get the chance again," he said.

"Overall it's been quite a positive tournament for me. I started off quite nervous in my first match (when he beat Kalinikos Kreanga of Greece 4-2 (7-11, 11-5, 11-5, 10-12, 11-7, 11-7) but I think I handled it well and started to play some good stuff.

"Against Apolonia, we played together at the same club for two years, so I knew how I wanted to play against him and he knew how to play against me. It was a close game and I was very happy to beat a player with a high ranking.

"In the last match I felt like I started off really well in the first two sets. If I had taken the first it would have put him under pressure, but he got used to my style of play a little bit."

Pitchford also teamed up with Paul Drinkhall in the doubles although they were beaten 4-2 in the round of 64 by Youngsik Jung and Minseok Kim of Korea while Drinkhall exited the singles at the same stage.

Performance coach Alan Cooke said: "It's such a fine line and both of them have done very well. It was a very positive competition and hopefully it's all good experience for the future."

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