FRENCH OPEN 2010 – China’s B team battered early

The French Open got underway Tuesday but Wednesday’s first round saw the upsets begin, with a big win by Jeanine Cicognini of nearby Switzerland.

By Aaron Wong, Badzine Correspondent.  Photos: Yohan Nonotte for Badmintonphoto (live)

Day One of the French Open were qualification rounds, and of the more than two dozen matches, French players featured in all fixtures except for two.  Predictably, both Wang Zhengming of China and Viktor Axelsen of Denmark – World Junior Champions past and present – advanced in straight games into the men’s singles main draw where their talents could be properly tested.

Women’s Singles: Sweet Swiss Success

Move over Roger Federer, it’s another remarkable Swiss sports result, but in badminton for a change, not tennis.  The big news of the second day was its second longest match.  A match between two unseeded players eclipsed all others when Switzerland’s Jeanine Cicognini took 54 minutes to bid au revoir to 2007 World Champion Zhu Lin of China 21-17, 13-21, 21-17.

Three Danish men’s singles matches went into overtime as well.  Joachim Persson dealt with tall Dutchman Eric Pang 21-16 in the rubber game, Jorgensen was pushed by Wacha of Poland but managed to forge ahead 21-13 in their rubber.  Only Rune Ulsing succumbed to India’s Ajay Jayaram after looking comfortable in the second game: 21-10, 6-21, 21-16.

Qualifiers Shortlived Main Draw

Meanwhile, the hopeful qualifiers had a tough go of it in the main draw.  Axelsen met Du Pengyu of China, who is eager to capitalize on his first chance in his last three tournaments, to reach the final without having to face Taufik Hidayat and he trounced the 16-year-old Axelsen in two games of 21-11 each.  Meanwhile, Du left it to Wang Zhengming to face Taufik early and Wang was no match for the two-time runner-up.  Taufik took that one 21-18, 21-12.

Vita Marissa, such a force in Indonesian mixed doubles and once upon a time considered a dark horse in level doubles, again failed to get off the ground in her women’s doubles mission, partnering Nadya Melati and losing to unseeded and unheralded Danish pair Kruse/Schjott-Kristensen 19-21, 18-21.

 Men’s Doubles: Denmark Trump Malaysia

The last match was an exciting finish to Wednesday night’s proceedings with two new and exciting world class men’s doubles pairings clashing.  Mads Conrad-Pedersen / Jonas Rasmussen, seeded 5^th, lived up to their billing by defeating Hoon Thien How / Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif 21-16, 13-21, 21-14.  It was anyone’s match and the Danes will take a lot of confidence from winning this encounter because all the experience and variety of styles they can get under their belt now can only be helpful.  But sometimes you just feel for Malaysian men’s doubles coming up short once again.  It seems like more than their fair share of bad luck and coaches’ disappointed looks follow them when they are actually semi-finals worthy.

For complete first round results from the 2010 Yonex French Open Super Series, CLICK HERE