Ma Lin Eliminated in First Round by Russian Backbencher

It was an unexpected and incredible result which was brought to my attention, Ma Lin 2nd seed of this year's China Harmony Open in Suzhou, eliminated by 29 year old Alexey Liventsov (RUS).

Liventsov largely unknown recorded a victory against Sweden's Jens Lundqvist in the early stages of the 2009 Spanish Open. Sitting at a world ranking of 120, Liventsov has never ventured into the world's top 100. However he has registered some impressive wins. Aside from Lundqvist who was ranked 31 in the world at the time he has also beaten in the last 4 years:

Chuang Chih-Yuan (TPE)
Chen Weixing (AUT)
Daniel Kosiba (HUN)
Emmanuel Lebesson (FRA)
Robert Svensson (SWE)
Ueda Jin (JPN)

Russia's 29 year old Alexey Liventsov

Sad day for Ma Lin fans around the world, but nevertheless a nice change from the usual, will be interesting to see how the draw plays out and whether anyone else will be inspired to get stuck into the 4 Chinese players remaining in the competition; Xu Xin, Zhang Jike, Wang Hao and Ma Long.