Seventh seed Connor Green lost his two opening matches at the European Under-21 Championships in Romania, leaving his singles participation hanging by a thread.
Green was first beaten by Slovakia’s Damian Floro, ranked No 21 in the tournament, and then by Bulgaria’s Yoan Velichkov, the No 13, as the second phase of group matches got under way.
Green needs to win his final match against Marcel Blaszczyk of Poland on Friday and hope he can be involved in a three-way countback for second place – assuming Velichkov beats Floro.
Wales’ Anna Hursey, the top seed and defending champion has won her first two group matches, in six games against Natalia Bogdanowicz (POL) and in five against Julie Van Hauwaert (BEL).
Jersey’s Hannah Silcock finished third in her group in the first stage and did not advance to stage two. She lost 3-1 to Lilou Massart of Belgium and 3-0 in three close games to Denmark’s Mille Stoffregen, but beat Patricia Stoica of Romania 3-1.
Silcock, playing alongside Pert Lehtlaan of Estonia ni the Mixed Doubles, lost out in the Round of 64 to Vit Kadlec of Czechia and Elinor Davidov or Israel, by a 3-1 (11-5, 11-6, 7-11, 11-4) scoreline.
Results
Men’s Singles
Stage 2, Group 7
Damian Floro (SVK) bt Connor Green 4-1 (11-9, 11-8, 11-9, 4-11, 14-12)
Yoan Velichkov (BUL) bt Green 4-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7)