Second seed Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany is through to the men's singles quarter-finals of the ITTF Bulgaria Open in Panagyurishte ©ITTF/Chris Petkov

Top seed Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan and second seed Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany both won today to reach the men's singles quarter-finals at the International Table Tennis Federation Bulgaria Open in Panagyurishte.

Ovtcharov beat compatriot Ruwen Filus 11-8, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 before Harimoto defeated Chinese Taipei's Chen Chien-An 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 8-11, 11-2, 11-6 at Arena Asarel.

Harimoto will go onto face fellow countryman Takuya Jin after he came through a seven-game thriller with another Japanese player, Yuta Tanaka.

Jin triumphed 12-10, 9-11, 10-12, 11-7, 14-12, 9-11, 11-6.

Ovtcharov, meanwhile, will go up against China’s Zhao Zihao, an 11-6, 11-6, 11-7, 7-11, 13-15, 11-8 winner over Slovenia’s Darko Jorgić.

The other two last-eight ties pit Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan against Portugal’s Marcos Freitas and Japan’s Jun Mizutani against Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna.

Chuang and Aruna ousted top-eight seeds in seven-game matches with the former beating sixth-ranked Englishman Liam Pitchford 5-11, 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-5 and the latter defeating seventh-ranked Wong Chun Ting 11-9, 11-9, 4-11, 3-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-5.

It was much more comfortable for Freitas and Mizutani with both having walkover wins, against Croatia’s Tomislav Pucar and Japan’s Asuka Machi respectively.

China's Chen Xingtong was extremely impressive as she beat third-seeded Japanese Miu Hirano in the round of 16 in the women's singles event ©ITTF
China's Chen Xingtong was extremely impressive as she beat third-seeded Japanese Miu Hirano in the round of 16 in the women's singles event ©ITTF

In the women's singles event, the highest-seeded casualties were third-ranked Miu Hirano of Japan and fourth-ranked Suh Hyowon of South Korea.

Both lost against Chinese opposition with Hirano beaten 9-11, 5-11, 3-11, 9-11 by Chen Xingtong and Suh defeated 9-11, 3-11, 2-11, 11-3, 5-11 by Wu Yang.

Chen's reward is a quarter-final clash with eighth-seeded South Korean Jeon Jihee, who overcame Japan's Hina Hayata 3-11, 11-7, 11-9, 13-11, 6-11, 11-7.

Next up for Wu is seventh-seeded Japanese Hitomi Sato, an 11-4, 4-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 victor at the expense of compatriot Minami Ando.

Japan's Kasumi Ishikawa and Mima Ito, the top two seeds, are both safely through to the last-eight after picking up comfortable wins today.

Ishikawa beat Romania's Bernadette Szőcs 13-11, 11-8, 11-4, 9-11, 11-7, while Ito defeated China's Fan Siqi 11-6, 11-7, 11-9, 11-5.

Standing between Ishikawa and a place in the semi-finals is fifth-seeded Chinese He Zhuojia following her 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 11-4, 10-12, 11-9 victory over fellow countrywoman Mu Zi.

Ito's quarter-final opponent is Singapore's Yu Mengyu, who overcame Japan's Miyu Kato 11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7.