Quarter Finals – Mixed doubles : Ellis/Smith held the head high

Last European pair gave their best performance

Ellis and Smith from England made their entrance on the court early this evening to fight in their first Super 750 quarter final. As yesterday, they clearly had the whole audience behind them. Ellis and Smith showed an important determination and tried to stick to the score.  Despite some good rallies, they couldn’t find the way to finish the points. They lost the 1st game 21-16 against the Chinese pair ZHENG/HUANG.

Ellis and Smith took the lead 11-4 at the break during the 2nd game. With the public support, they raised their level and tried to play smart. But against the world no1, they obviously met a strong resistance. Despite an amazing performance, they lost to the Chinese pair 21-16 21-19. The Chinese said after their match : “We are happy to be into the semi-finals. Our opponents changed their tactics during the 2nd game and we had some difficulties to adapt ourselves.”

Some favourites eliminated

The Indonesian Tontowi AHMAD and Liliyana Natsir had been stopped on their way to the finals. Indeed, their opponents from Japan, WATANABE/HIQASHINO were stronger today than the number 3 seeds. The Japanese pair managed to win over the 2017 title holders here in Paris with a final score of 21-16 16-21 21-18.

The Chinese pair WANG/HUANG, number 2 seeds of the French open, fought for a place in the semi-finals against the thai PUAVARANUKROH/ TAERATTANACHAI. After a hard and thrilling 3 games match, they have been defeated by the Thai 16-21 21-18 21-15.

Asian fight

Last match of the draw opposed the Japanese pair HOKI/NAGAHARA to SEO/CHAE from Korea. The pair from Japan reached its first Super 750 quarter finals. That new pair is considered as outsiders comparing to their world ranking (359th). They went through tough matches to get here. They won their previous rounds in 3 games but they had less success today, as they lost in straight games to SEO/CHAE from Korea, 21-14 21-11.