MD - Day 3 : The Danes want more

Strong performance once again. The European pairs are still present thanks to ASTRUP and RASMUSSEN. « Minions » reach quarterfinals but no « Daddies » anymore.

EUROPE STILL REPRESENTED

What a match from the Danes! Kim ASTRUP and Anders Skaarup RASMUSSEN literally took out the audience breath. Helped by a the crowd, the pair representing Europe managed to win an extreme tense match against Aaron CHIA/SHO Wooi Yik from Malaysia, a strong n°13. Final score : 21-19, 13-21, 23-21. « We love to play here, it’s a pleasure playing like in front of a great crowd so we are very satisfied » they both stated after the match.

Not the same success for the other Danish pair. Mathias BOE and Mads CONRAD-PETERSEN get to the end of their Parisian tournament. Despite after taking the first 21-14, their opponent representing Chinese Taiei, LIAO/SU fought back and prevailed in three games: 14-21, 21-17, 21-15.

Same things for the Englishmen, Ben LANE and Sean Vendy. After a huge win yesterday over an Indian pair, they had to face the n°3 in the world. Tough task. They managed to lead the entire first game, certainly playing without any pressure. But they unfortunately missed quite some opportunities! 4 sets points (20-16) they couldn’t conclude and had to concede the first game. during the following points they were basically trying to keep up with the Chinese speed. LI/LIU won the match 22-20, 21-15.

MINIONS INTO QUARTERFINALS AFTER A WITHDRAW

the world n°1, Indonesians who almost lost their openers had a different match today. Marcus Fernando GIDEON and Kevin SUKAMULJO are into the quarterfinals after their opponent withdrew. The Korean KIM/LEE couldn’t continue and had to stop the match after only 18min of play and with a score of 20-18.

DADDIES STOPPED AGAIN AT ROUND 2

With a terrific journey throughout the BWF World Tour this year, including gold medal at Worlds and recent runner-up positions at the Danish Open and the China Open, Indonesia’s Ahsan/Setiawan were one the serious contenders for the French Open title. But Paris sounded like a bad stop one more time.

India’s Shetty/Rankireddy, semi-finalist in 2018, were determined to advance to the quarter finals. They defeated the Daddies in 3 games by stunning them in the decider 21-18 18-21 21-13.

DEFENDING CHAMPIONS HAN/ZHOU ADVANCED

The seventh-seeded pair from China Han/Zhou battled through 3 tight and tough games to defend their 2018 edition title. Their opponents Arya Pangkaryanira/Santoso from Indonesia saved 2 match points and tied up at 20-20. But the Chinese were more solid in this new money time and stopped the ardor of the Indonesian. They’re moving to the quarter finals but will play an undisputed challenge against the golden boys, also well known as the Minions Indonesia’s Gideon/Sukalmujo who progressed after Korean’s Kim/Lee retired.

JAPANESE FIGHT

Playing against peers is not always easy. Usually it means the same style playing. This time Hiroyuki ENDO and Yuta WATANABE who are also world n°6 prevailed over the other Japanese (INOUE/KANEKO) in straight games, 21-14, 21-13.

THE OTHERS

The Japanese pair KAMURA/SONODA are into quarterfinals after defeating their opponent form Chinese Taipei LEE/WANG, 21-12, 16-21, 21-14.