INDONESIA OPEN 2016 Day 1 – Leverdez into main draw

France’s Brice Leverdez upset his way into the main draw of the Indonesia Open while the hosts swept the men’s doubles qualifying rounds.

By Mathilde Liliana Perada, Badzine Correspondent live in Jakarta.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Brice Leverdez (pictured) finally made it into the main round after struggling in the morning and afternoon match on an early Monday start to the 2016 Indonesia Open Superseries Premier. In the morning session, Leverdez had very tough match against Japan’s Takuma Ueda. He sent Ueda home after took the third game deuce and won 17-21 24-22 23-21. Not too long after the first match, he played his second, against Alistair Casey. The world #39 won 21-4 21-15.

“I think in the first match I had to get used to the hall,” said Leverdez.  “I struggled with the Japanese guy in the first match. That was a tight match and I was also not at my best this morning. This afternoon I had a much better feeling with my game and I was now confident. I think I played tactically correctly this afternoon. I stuck to my plan and I forced him to make errors many times and yes he made many mistakes.

Leverdez was happy to take his main round ticket and is ready to play against the home favorite, Ihsan Maulana Mustofa on Wednesday: “I will give my best on Wednesday to play as well as I can and I will be very happy if I win next time,” he added.

In the men’s doubles qualification, the host sent four of four qualifiers to main draw. Young Indonesian pair Fajar Alvian / Muhammad Rian Ardianto (pictured) marked their name into first round after beating the Kurniawan brothers. At the final qualification match on Monday, Alvian/Ardianto took the first game and lost in the second.

“We were confident in the first game and our strategy was successful but in the second, the opponents dictated us so we couldn’t fight back,” said Alvian after the match.

In the third game, Fran and Fernando Kurniawan got the match point 20-16 but they could not take the advantage of this opportunity. The world #64 took six straight points and won after 44 minutes of play.

“We played with nothing to lose at the end of the match. I got the serve and had initiative to cut the shuttle in front of net,” Alvian added.

In the first round, Alvian/Ardianto will face Denmark’s Mads Conrad-Petersen / Mads Pieler Kolding: “We will do our best and ease unforced errors in the next match.”

In another qualifying match, Bagas Maulana and Calvin Kristanto made their Indonesia Open debut to the main draw. The 18-year-olds sent home #4 qualifier seeded, Lee Jian Yi / Lim Zhen Ting with the point 21-19 21-19. Maulana/Kristanto will face the2014 World Champions Ko Sung Hyun / Shin Baek Cheol in the first round.

Click here for complete Monday results