Ryoichi Yoshiyama vs Thibault Poret | MS R32 | #WTTAstana 2026

Decent defending there, the contender in Panagiuiste and he was beaten in the quarterfinal by Christian Carlsen of Sweden, did as well at that event and he was beaten in the round of 16 by Andrei Bertelsmeyer of Germany. This is actually a third time encounter, they played twice before. Last season at the contender in Skopje, three games to one. Couldn't quite connect with it, the Japanese star. Reverse pendulum, nice serve. Evening it was coming. A Japanese player here and he's three ahead and three away from taking game one. Not the ideal receive from Pogba. Brilliant attacking play, and he's done well here to claw it back. He misses the flick, but it's brilliant. Game point for Porre. Reverse service, first ever win against this player and he takes it with the side spin flick. Caught on a little bit more, I would say, pensive overall during a match. Takes a little bit more time between points, more like a guzzi where, you know, it can take six or seven seconds. Nice out. At this point, his odds would massively go up. Guarantee a cushion to bounce back here. Strong offence and again, how do I counter all of them? Porre's testing that again in a second one. Keep chipping away with that reverse pendulum until Porre can come up with a good answer. That was good. It's interesting table tennis because just because something works once doesn't mean you should do it straight away again. You've got to pick your moments. It's gone into the Porre backhand. Nice fading shot from, good turnaround from Porre and five of six points, but some respite. Oh yeah, it was an impressive backhand. He got so low. Whips it away. Now five, chop block, bit of a drop, a chop and Thibaut Porre standing his ground here in Astana. Preventing the opponent from getting in with a strong attack. The defence from the Frenchman showing his flair here. Tried to take on a chop from, yeah, well-timed forehand flick. That was the right choice there. Who overcame Fan Bo Meng of Germany earlier on in his match. What a shot from Porre. Oh my goodness, it was that one. Brilliant recovery from, I have to play the long game here, the Frenchman. As you can see, kill. Surely he'll be able to finish Porre off in this one. Had to skim it shallow, nice idea. Porre went for the around the net, tosses the racket. Table against Omar Assar of Egypt before the last match of the session. Mixed doubles, quarterfinal. Thibaut Porre fighting for his life now in this men's draw. Good touch. Porre we know is capable of amounting a bit of a streak, long serve. Oh, that's fantastic control. Feels like Porre's at that, he's going to find out in the next coming months. Okay, have I hit a limit where I'm going to have to improve more and more. A lot lower ranked than Yoshiyama. Leagues above what that would suggest. On the lean, loop to loop. Oh, what a point. Playing some of the best table tennis we've seen from him this season, Yoshiyama. Nice touch as well, this is too good. Two 22-year-olds with the recovery shot, looking to survive a scare here against Ryoichi Yoshiyama of Japan. Frenchman really is do or die. Yoshiyama with this reverse pendulum serve. Touches and Porre couldn't connect and that's relief for Yoshiyama. Can he build upon it? Not that time. That third ball touched Yoshiyama and it drifted way too long. Porre pounced on the line. This should be a massive win for the world number 70. He's done it, what a win for Yoshiyama. The world number 70 beats the world number 19 and the fifth seed from France, Thibaut Porre, is eliminated here in Astana.