Aruna Quadri’s bid to go one better than in previous years at the German Open was upended at the hands of old foe and veteran local favourite Timo Boll in the round of 32 on Thursday.

World number 10 Boll took just shy of 38 minutes to triumph in six sets (11-5,11-2,11-9,3-11,8-11,11-8) at the GETEC Arena in Magdeburg.

Just as against Finland’s Benedek Olah in the preliminary round 3, Aruna took a while to get going and found himself three sets down after just 19 minutes as the German lefthander buoyed by home support threatened to sweep the Nigerian early on.

Aruna managed to put a halt to Boll’s onslaught winning the next two sets to come within a set of forcing a decider but his late renaissance was stopped by Boll who edged a tight sixth set 11-8 to triumph 4-2 (11-5, 11-2, 11-9, 3-11, 8-11, 11-8).

The defeat marked a second straight exit at the round of 32 for the Nigerian who has never been able to go past this stage at the German Open.

Aruna will hope to put the defeat behind him as he prepares for next month’s African Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Tunisia where he would be looking to qualify for the singles event at the Tokyo Olympics.