Ma Long leads six Chinese into China Open last 16

China's Olympic champion Ma Long advanced into the men's singles last 16 at the China Open table tennis tournament on Thursday, along with six teammates.

Ma, also the three-time world singles champion who is seeking his 28th ITTF World Tour title here, crushed Japanese Mizuki Oikawa 4-1. He will take on another Japanese Koki Niwa on Friday.

Ma Long plays against Japanese Mizuki Oikawa in the opening round of the China Open in Shenzhen on May 30, 2019. [Photo: VCG]

Fan Zhendong, Lin Gaoyuan, Liang Jingkun, Yu Ziyang and Xu Xin all progressed, with Zhou Qihao as the only Chinese casualty in the first round.

England's Liam Pitchford gave the Chinese youngster a 4-0 lesson and he will clash with Japanese Tomokazu Harimoto in the next round.

German veteran Timo Boll survived a 4-3 challenge by Portugal's Joao Monteiro while his compatriot Dimitrij Ovtcharov stayed alive in a seven-set match against teammate Ricardo Walther.

China's Olympic champion Ding Ning had a flying start in the China Open, beating Japanese Miyuu Kihara 4-1 in the women's singles first round.

The newly-crowned world champion Liu Shiwen beat Gu Yuting 4-1 in an all-Chinese game, while Chen Meng ousted fellow Chinese Sun Yingsha 4-3.

Chinese Wang Manyu, Chen Xingtong, Qian Tianyi and Zhu Yuling all moved into the last 16 of women's singles.