Twelve-year-old Tomokazu Harimoto today became the youngest-ever player to reach the quarter-final stage of an ITTF World Tour event ©ITTF/Ireneusz Kanabrodzki

Twelve-year-old Tomokazu Harimoto became the youngest-ever player to reach the quarter-final stage of an International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour event after beating Hungary’s Adam Szudi in straight games at the Slovenia Open in Otocec.

The Japanese registered an 11-6, 11-6, 11-9, 11-5 over Szudi to ensure he will be the only qualifier competing in the last eight of the competition.

Frenchmen Alexandre Cassin was beaten by Japan’s Yuto Muramatsu 11-8, 11-3, 12-10, 11-5, while the latter’s compatriot Tonin Ryuzaki suffered an 11-8, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7 defeat at the hands of South Korea’s Lee Sangsu, the number four seed.

Further success for South Korea came through number five seed Jung Young-sik, who eventually overcame India's Soumyajit Ghosh 11-8, 11-13, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4.

Joining him in the quarter-finals will be fellow countryman Joo Saehyuk, the number six seed, who ended the progress of Austria’s Chen Weixing with a 12-10, 11-3, 11-3, 8-11, 6-11, 11-8 win.

Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting, the number three seed, defeated Chinese Taipei’s Chen Chien-An 11-8, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7.

Meanwhile, number two seeded Taiwanese Chuang Chih-Yuan defeated Portugal’s João Geraldo 11-7, 7-11, 13-11, 11-9, 11-5.

South Korea's Jeon Jihee booked her place in the women's singles semi-finals
South Korea's Jeon Jihee booked her place in the women's singles semi-finals ©ITTF/Rémy Gros

In the women’s singles quarter-finals, top seed Kasumi Ishikawa of Japan beat Hong Kong’s Lee Ho Ching 11-5, 11-2, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8, while compatriot Ai Fukuhara, the number three seed, overcame Singapore’s Zhou Yihan 11-8, 11-3, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6.

South Korea’s Jeon Jihee, the number five seed, also caused heartache for Singapore by beating Zeng Jian 12-10,4-11,5-11,11-8,11-6,6-11,11-2

Feng Tianwei brought smiles to Singaporean faces, however, with an 11-4, 8-11, 9-11, 11-4, 12-10, 11-7 win against Japan’s Hitomi Sato.

Ishikawa is due to face Jeon in tomorrow’s first semi-final, followed by Fukuhara’s meeting with Feng.