GIDEON and SUKAMULJO did not miss their start 

The world number 1 Marcus Fernaldi GIDEON and Kevin Sanjaya SUKAMULJO entered perfectly in their tournament. The defending champions had to face Mark LAMFUSS and Marvin SEIDEL (N.17, Germany).  Stressful first set for the best team in the world but they won it 21/19 thanks to a serve in the net from the Germans. During the second set, the Minions clearly took the attack as the German were always lifting. 21/16 as a result and a deserved qualification for next round. A round in which they will face the seeded number 7 ONG Yew Sin and TEO Ee Yi (Malaysia) who severely beat Callum HEMMING/ Steven STALLWOOD (N.95, England) 21/8 21/8 in 21 minutes.  

AFIAN and ADRIANTO in control 

Fajar ALFIAN and Muhammad Rian ADRIANTO (N.7, Indonesia) had to keep the nerves against Toma Junior POPOV and Christo POPV (N.38, France). The French players had all the French crowd rooting for them. Using the energy of the audience, the POPOVs started with a 2/0. However, the mid-court rallies of the beginning of the game advantaged the Indonesians and enabled them to lead at the interlude : 11/7. Better in all the areas, the 2021 Swiss Open winners kept pushing until winning the set 21/12. Leaving no rest to their French opponents, the seeded number 3 took a comfortable advantage 11/3 at the interlude. Keeping the pressure they were leading 18/8 and despite a reaction from the brothers, the qualified for the quarter finals : 21/12 21/15. Interviewed not long after the match, Christo POPOV confessed that : “They played good all along. They dominated 70 or 80 percent of the match. (…) One the one hand, it proves they deserved the victory. On the other hand, we have been able to win rallies, so if we play like that all the time we will be able to defeat them one day”. Tomorrow a new challenge is waiting for them against Takuro HOKI and Yugo KOBAYASHI (N.16, Japan).  

Indeed, a few matches after, on court number 2, the Japanese get their ticket to the next round by beating Ben LANE and Sean VENDY (N.18, England). With their outstanding front court control, the world number 16 gained the first set 21/12. English players attacked more in the second one but it was not enough to stop their opponents from winning : 21/17. The 2021 Denmark Open winners said that : “In the first set we had the possibility to attack easily. But in the next set, our opponent took back the attack and we had to defend. Lucky for us we managed to change it after 11 interlude.” 

AHSAN and STIAWAN had to fight 

It took 3 sets to Mohammad AHSAN and Hendra SETIAWAN to defeat LU Ching Yao and YANG Po Han (N.22, Chinese Taipei). The first set was very tight with several ties 10/10, 12/12, 14/14 but the seeded number 2 found their way to win it 21/16. The second set was the Taiwanese one. They kept a comfortable advantage until 21/14. But the experience of the silver medalists from the last World Tours Finals helped them control the third set stress and win it 21/15. Next round, they will be confronted to KO Sung Hyun/ SHIN Baekcheol (N.25, Korea) who defeated  Akira KOGA and Taichi SAITO  (N.27, Japan) : 21/15 21/14.  

Qualifications for the quarter finals of Aaron CHIA and SOH Wooi (N.8, Malaysia) who beat a Thai pair 21/12 21/12. They will face Satwiksairaj RANKIREDDY and Chirag SHETTY who defeated their country fellows 15/21 21/10 21/19.