Commonwealth Games champions Paul Drinkhall, front, and Liam Pitchford crashed out of the men's doubles at the ITTF European Championships in Alicante today ©ITTF

Commonwealth Games gold medallists Paul Drinkhall and Liam Pitchford from England have crashed out of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) European Championships in Alicante today, losing to 13th seeds, Russia’s Kirill Skachkov and Alexander Shibaev respectively.

Seeded fifth Drinkhall and Pitchford were undoubtedly the favourites for the match but still could not take it, losing 8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 8-11, 7-11 at the Pabellón Pedro Ferrándiz.

England did gain some success today at least from Sam Walker, partnering Denmark's Tobias Rasmussen for the first time.

They beat Hungary’s Nandor Ecseki and Adam Szudi, the ninth seeds, in straight games 11-7, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10.

Otherwise, though, results went as expected.

Germany’s Patrick Franziska and Denmark’s Jonathan Groth, the top seeds, beat Portugal’s Diogo Carvalho and Diogo Chen 11-3, 11-8, 11-7, 11-3, while Sweden’s Mattias Falck and Kristian Karlsson, the number two seeds, beat  Spain’s Jesus Cantero and Serbia’s Aleksandar Karakasevic 11-5, 11-6, 10-12, 11-9, 11-8.

In the women's doubles, top seeds Matilda Ekholm of Sweden and Georgina Pota from Hungary also made it through, in comfortable fashion as well, beating their French opponents in straight games.

The favourites for the title saw off Stéphanie Loueillette and Oceane Guisnel 11-7, 11-6, 11-2, 12-10.

It was not such a successful day for the number four seeds Barbora Balážová from Slovakia and Hana Matelová from the Czech Republic, however, who crashed out in the only real upset of the day in the women's doubles, beaten by Austria’s Sofia Polcanova and Russia’s Yana Noskova 8-11, 10-12, 7-11, 11-7, 5-11.

Barbora Balážová from Slovakia and Hana Matelová from the Czech Republic, the fourth seeds, lost in what was the only upset of the day in the women's doubles at the ITTF European Championships ©ITTF
Barbora Balážová from Slovakia and Hana Matelová from the Czech Republic, the fourth seeds, lost in what was the only upset of the day in the women's doubles at the ITTF European Championships ©ITTF

Elizabeta Samara and Bernadette Szocs, number two seeds from Romania, made it through 11-4, 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 16-14 against Austria’s Liu Jia and Amelie Solia.

There were also a couple of good results for Germany.

Firstly, number seven seeds Petrissa Solja and Sabine Winter saw off Dana Hadačov from the Czech Republic and Britt Eerland from The Netherlands in a tight match, 11-5, 8-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-7.

Then Kristin Lang and Nina Mittelham, the 13th seeds, came from behind to beat Portugal’s qualifiers Fu Yu and Shao Jieni in another close contest, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9.

Elsewhere on the day the number three seeds Ni Xialian and Sarah de Nutte from Luxembourg made it through in six games against Hungary’s Dora Madarsz and Szandra Pergel, while the number five seeds Li Jie of the Netherlands and Poland’s Li Qian beat Spain’s Galia Dvorak and Maria Xiao in four.

The quarter-finals and semi-finals of both the men's and women's events are due to take place tomorrow.