Women’s Doubles – Day 1: Great foretaste for seeded pairs

7 matches took place this Tuesday in Paris in the Women’s Singles draw. The seeded pairs progressed to the next round. The crowd witnessed well known long rallies where discipline and consistency are key to win the battle.

The seeded pairs Matsumoto/Nagahara and Kim/Kong were both untroubled by their respective European opponents in their opening games.

The 2018 winners Matsumoto/Nagahara dominated the English pair Birch/Smith in winning 21-19 21-16. “They are obviously number one in the world and one seeded here for a reason” said Chloe Birch after the game.

“Their quality is very good consistently throughout the game. You see the Japanese playing 80-minute games regularly. They can keep that level for a very long time. That’s what we need to aim for.” added Lauren Smith.

In court number 4, the Korean Kim/Kong defeated the Danish pair Poulsen/Bøje in straight games 21-19 21-14.

Local players Anne Tran and Emilie Lefel improved their head-to-head record to 3-1 against Bolotova/Davletova. They advanced to the second round with victory over the Russian pair in two straight games (21-12 21-13).

Malaysia’s Hoo/Wen cruised through 21-9 21-10 and might face the 2016 winners Chen/Jia.

Also scoring 3-set wins in Paris were 2017 champion Indonesia’s Polii/Rahayu winner over Japan’s Sakuramoto/Takahara (13-21 21-16 21-16) and the Dutch pair Piek/Seinen, who beat Cheng/Lee from Taipei.