Fukuhara out of table tennis worlds women's singles

Ai Fukuhara was sensationally knocked out of the women's singles second round by Ukrainian veteran and world No. 63 Tetyana Bilenko 4-2 at the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships on Wednesday.

The pair had never played against each other before, and in this first match up Fukuhara became increasingly frustrated by the lanky chopper's staunch defence.

"I should have been more aggressive. I lost points and became a little bit passive with my tactics," Fukuhara said.

Japan's table tennis queen began well, winning two of the first three games before Bilenko turned the match in the fourth, winning it and keeping the momentum to then take the fifth.

Bilenko again got off to a good start in the sixth game. Fukuhara, seeing the match slip away, called time out but when the players returned to the table she immediately made an error to lose another point.

Fukuhara looked like she might force a deciding game when she saved two match points late in the game, but on the third she drove the ball off the top of the net to lose the match.

Bilenko will now meet Maria Dolgikh in the next round after the Russian caused an upset of her own, beating world No. 30 Lee Ho Ching of Chinese Hongkong 4-3. Endi