Watch Truls Möregårdh's most delicious strike of the match in the player above.
The Swedish table tennis star Truls Möregårdh, who took World Cup silver in 2021 and who led Sweden to gold at the team European Championships last fall, is now looking for his biggest individual title to date.
In Montreux, Switzerland, he has comfortably won two playoff matches in Europe's top 16 on Saturday.
First, he knocked out Croatian Tomislav Pucar, 55th in the world, 4-0 in a set in the round of 16.
Then he faced former European champion Dimitrij Ovtcharov, ranked thirteenth in the world.
And against the German, Möregårdh offered entertainment.
Ovtcharov was several times completely stopped by the Swede's tricky strokes, and Möregårdh – now 19 in the world – won the first set 11-7 and the second 11-9.
Broke the match
Möregårdh then gained 8-3 in the third, then Ovtcharov requested an injury timeout and grabbed his rib.
After a few minutes the match continued but after Möregårdh won the third set, Ovtcharov chose to break the match.
Möregårdh advances to the semi, which will be played on Sunday, in Europe's top 16. There he will meet the winner between the brothers Alexis and Felix Lebrun.
From 16 to 25 February, the Team World Cup will be decided in South Korea.