FRENCH OPEN 2015 R32 – Fighty Kirsty!

Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour confirmed her recent great shape by reaching the second round of the Yonex French Open Superseries after a tremendous battle against Taiwan’s Pai Yu Po. Meanwhile Michael Fuchs and Johannes Schoettler are no longer jinxed, after another hard-fought encounter while facing the 8th-seeded pair of Lee Sheng Mu and Tsai Chia Hsin.

By Tarek Hafi, Badzine Correspondent live in Paris.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Scottish talent Kirsty Gilmour (pictured) proved once more she was in fantastic form.  After claiming the Prague International and the Dutch Open, she now earned her ticket to the second round of the French Superseries event with a hard-fought win over Pai Yu Po in over an hour of play.

The twenty year-old player had to reach her inner strength to beat her opponent and come back in a rubber, which many thought would fall inside the Taiwan player’s bucket: “I think we both have the same style, we build rallies and try to find opportunities, so you need to give at least ninety percent of your best game and I felt like I was pretty good today.  I was focused, though I shouldn’t have lost the second set. I had a big lead but I was the one that stepped out mentally first,” confessed Kirsty Gilmour at the end of her match.

Despite Pai Yu Po’s effort and will, the Taiwan shuttler had no choice but to concede her first round match, 10-20, 21-19, 16-21.  This leaves Kirsty Gilmour to take on the current World Champion Carolina Marin.  The Scottish jewel won their last encounter, last year at the Spanish Open.

Two more Europeans shone during today’s first round, in the name of Michael Fuchs and Johannes Schoettler (pictured).  The Germans scored a brave win over Taiwan’s seeded pair Lee Sheng Mu and Tsai Chia Hsin.

Despite a strenuous season and a first round loss last week in Denmark, the German heroes still used their mental strength and experience to finally overcome their demons on French soil: “We struggled a bit in the last few weeks, not on our top level, but today it worked quite well and happy we went through the first round against this pair that I have played many times and this is first time I have beaten them so I’m very happy,” confessed Johannes, obviously jubilant about his win.

However, the tall Johannes Schoettler admitted to having been through rough times recently, which resulted in a few difficult months that seem to have come to an end: “I had hip surgery six months ago. I am still not feeling well so I’m even happier that we won today.”

Cleared of a seeded pair, the German duo will now start their Danish homework, as they’re now scheduled to meet the constantly improving pair of Mads Conrad Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding in their round of 16 match tomorrow.

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