Yuka Nishii sparked a comeback for the Japanese women and Koji Matsushita set the tone early for the men Tuesday as both teams earned seeds in the round of 16 at the table tennis world championships in Osaka.
Nishii's win helped Japan take a 3-2 victory from Russia in Group E of the women's first division and Matsushita's straight sets triumph over Ntaniel Tsiokas led the Japanese men 3-1 over Greece and to the top of Group C.
Four-time women's defending champion China eased past Lithuania 3-0 to win Group A and join Japan in the championship bracket with a seed along with Taiwan, South Korea, Romania, Singapore, North Korea and Hungary. Sweden, seeking to repeat the championship it won in Kuala Lumpur in February 2000, defeated Denmark 3-1 to earn a seed in the finals bracket with China, France, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany, and Belgium.
Play in the championship bracket gets under way Wednesday. In the women's competition, Nishii, ranked 67th in the world, sparked a comeback for Japan with a win over Natalia Lafteva after An Konishi and Yoshie Takada had fallen to upset losses in the first two matches against Russia.
Inspired by the plucky Nishii, world No. 21 Takada came back in the reverse singles to defeat 58th-ranked Galina Melnik and No. 24 Konishi capped the rally over world 120 Svetlana Ganina.
In the men's competition, Japanese ace Matsushita, ranked No. 23 in the world, won in straight sets over No. 56 Tsiokas and took the first reverse singles match against Kalinikos Kreanga to sew up the victory for Japan.
The 46th world championships, which run through May 6 in Osaka, feature about 1,500 players and officials from 128 countries. Japan is hosting the event for a fifth time and for the first time since the 1991 meet in Chiba.