WD – Day 2: Cruises and battles for cheering fans

The first round of the Women’s Doubles draw of the French Open ended this Wednesday in Paris. The atmosphere in the Coubertin arena stepped up with hard battles and dramas.

The Stoeva sisters satisfied local fans

The crowd knows quite well the Stoeva sisters, world ranked 10, as they played in the local badminton club closed to the arena. It sounds like their second home - Issy-les-Moulineaux city name is even printed on their dress. So, this Tuesday’s first match was an awaited one by the local fans eager for victories of their quite local champions. The final scoreboard did not disappoint them.

Supajirakul/Taerattanachai have been back again on courts for almost a year. They used to defeat the Bulgarian sisters, but it was back in 2016. The recent encounter was then at All England 2019 with a Thai loss. The Thai pair, 6 ranks below in the world rankings, was the first one to overcome a tight opening game especially with a solid and imposing Puttita Supajirakul in back court. Gabriela and Stefani put then more pressure on their opponents and rapidly dented their game and weakened their aggressive shots. With too many unforced errors, the second Thai women’s doubles pair let the second game. With a 14-8 lead in the deciding game the Stoeva sisters stayed confident and secured a slot among the last 16 pairs. 17-21 21-10 21-17

The 2018 runner-up sisters will face the number 3 seeded pair Japan’s Matsumoto/Takahashi who stopped the Korean Baek/Jung 21-15 21-14. The 2016 Olympics gold medalist did not leave a chance to the recent Danish Open winners.

Korea’s Hsu/Hu overpowered French players Palermo/Delrue

The packed crowd was ready to cheer the second French pair. Yesterday Tran/Leffel opened the road to hope for women’s doubles successes. But this time, Hsu Ya Ching and Hu Ling Fang from Chinese Taipei blocked the road of Delphine Delrue and Léa Palermo.

The two pairs are closed to each other in the world ranking. It sounded like a tight and tough battle. The Chinese Tapei’s players sealed the first game 21-11. The momentum arrived for the French in the second game. With inspired and solid shots, they led 11-6 at the mid-interval. But with some unforced errors, they let Hsu/Hu come back at 18-18. In a tight and intense money time with a crowd in a frenzy, they saved 2 match points and won 24-22.

But in the deciding game Hsu/Hu quelled Palermo/Delrue’s hope and won the match with a 21-11 22-24 21-12 score.

Cruise for Chen/Jia and Chow/Lee

Number 4 seed and 2016 winner, China’s Chen/Jia crushed the Russian pair Akchurina/Morozova in 2 straight games 21-13 21-8. The world ranked number 2 Chinese players are ready to jostle the Japanese women’s doubles supremacy.

Earlier in the day Malaysia’s Chow/Lee defeated the Dutch-Swiss pair Tabeling/Fankhauser 21-10 21-15.

Fukushima/Hirota vs Chang/Kim

The second-seeded Fukushima/Hirota, world champions, knew they had to be well prepared for their first match at the French Open in Paris. They were outmaneuvered by their opponents at the Thailand Open in August a couple of weeks before the World Champion title in Basel.

They were about to make a short work in the first game by leading the Korean 20-12. But Chang/Kim saved 8 game points in front of an excited crowd. The Japanese quelled their comeback and won the match 22-20 21-10.

Efler/Herttrich outfaced by Dong/Feng

Germany’s Efler/Herttrich were very close to turn the tables on the Chinese pair Dong/Feng. With a 16-12 and 18-12 on the first and second game, they seemed on course for shaking up their opponent. But each time Dong/Feng came back and even saved 2 game points. They eventually outplayed the Germans (22-20 31-21).

Other results

Kititharakul/Prajongjai defeated Fruergaard/Thygesen in straight games 21-16 21-16 while Lee/Shin eliminated Ponnappa/Reddy in winning 16-21 21-13 21-17.

See all the results of the women’s doubles draw here. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.