Ni Xia Lian, 63, beats Charlotte Lutz as Darko Jorgic survives seven-game thriller at European Championships

The singles main draw at the European Table Tennis Championships in Ljubljana opened on Wednesday, 14 October, and its oldest player won. Luxembourg's Ni Xia Lian, who is 63, beat France's Charlotte Lutz 4-2 in the women's round of 64 at Arena Stožice. Home favourite Darko Jorgic had a much harder day, needing seven games to get past Spain's Diego Lillo in the men's draw.

Ni Xia Lian rolls back the years

Ni won 9-11, 11-5, 12-10, 7-11, 11-3, 11-8. She lost the first and fourth games and took the other four. The 63-year-old came through the qualifying groups earlier in the week, and the win puts her into the last 32 of the singles at a continental championship.

The two met twice on the same day. In the mixed doubles quarter-finals, Lutz and Alexis Lebrun beat Ni and Luka Mladenovic 3-2, deciding the match 11-9 in the fifth game. The French pair are guaranteed at least bronze. They were scheduled to play Sweden's Kristian Karlsson and Christina Källberg in the semi-finals on Thursday, 15 October.

Jorgic survives, the favourites roll on

Jorgic, Slovenia's top player, won the first game 11-4 but then trailed Lillo 3-2 in games. He took the last two 11-8 and 11-6. Slovenia's Deni Kozul also went through, beating England's Liam Pitchford 4-0, and now plays Germany's Patrick Franziska in the round of 32.

Most of the leading men won in straight games:

• Alexis Lebrun (France), the defending champion, beat Tiago Apolonia of Portugal 11-4, 11-7, 11-0, 13-11.
• Félix Lebrun (France) beat Poland's Maciej Kubik 11-6, 11-6, 11-9, 11-5.
• Truls Moregard (Sweden) beat Ivan Kahn of the Netherlands 4-0. He plays Germany's Andre Bertelsmeier next.
• Patrick Franziska, Dang Qiu and Benedikt Duda (Germany) all won 4-0.

Two other matches went the full seven games. Sweden's Anton Källberg beat Nikita Artemenko 11-8 in the decider, and Finland's Benedek Olah beat Vladimir Sidorenko 12-10 in the seventh. Simon Gauzy and Flavien Coton both won 4-2 for France, while Thibault Poret lost 4-1 to Slovakia's Yang Wang.

Women's draw: an upset and two comebacks

The Netherlands' Shuohan Men produced the biggest surprise of the women's opening round. She beat Spain's Maria Xiao 4-3, winning the deciding game 15-13. Türkiye's Ece Harac was 3-1 down against Romania's Elizabeta Samara and won the last three games, each 11-7.

Top seed Sabine Winter of Germany beat Ukraine's Veronika Kotsiur 4-0. Defending champion Sofia Polcanova of Austria beat Italy's Nicole Arlia 4-0, winning the first two games 12-10. Romania's Bernadette Szocs, Germany's Nina Mittelham and Ying Han, and France's Jia Nan Yuan also went through. Home players Ana Tofant and Sara Tokic both won 4-1, which gave the Ljubljana crowd two Slovenian women in the round of 32.

What comes next

The championships run until Sunday, 18 October, when the finals are played. The singles round of 32 and the doubles quarter-finals are among the matches on Thursday's programme. In men's doubles, the Lebrun brothers beat Jorgic and Kozul 3-0 in the round of 16 and are through to the quarter-finals. Serbia's Zsolt Peto and Uros Ninkovic also reached the last eight.

Key takeaways

• Ni Xia Lian, 63, beat France's Charlotte Lutz 4-2 to reach the women's last 32.
• Darko Jorgic came from 3-2 down to beat Diego Lillo in seven games.
• Defending champions Alexis Lebrun and Sofia Polcanova both won in straight games.
• Shuohan Men beat Maria Xiao 15-13 in the seventh game.
• Finals day is Sunday, 18 October.

FAQ

Where are the 2026 European Table Tennis Championships being held? At Arena Stožice in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The event runs from 11 to 18 October.

Who are the defending singles champions? Alexis Lebrun of France in the men's event and Sofia Polcanova of Austria in the women's. Both won their opening singles matches.

How old is Ni Xia Lian? She is 63. She was born in July 1963 and represents Luxembourg.

Sources: ETTU, Equipe-France.fr, Fédération Française de Tennis de Table, tabletennis.media