MS : ANTONSEN out, ROUXEL in

First big sensation here in Paris, Anders ANTONSEN (N.3, Denmark) has been defeated by LEE Cheuk Yiu from Hong Kong. Thomas ROUXEL (N.39, France) won a spectacular match against Kantaphon WANGCHAROEN (N.18, Thailand). The other favorites held their ranks. NG Ka Long Angus, Rasmus GEMKE, Shesar Horen RHUSTAVITO and Kanta TSUNEYAMA all managed to go to the next round.

After a big disappointment last week in the Danish open, it was time for Anders ANTONSEN (N.3, Denmark) to get back on the court. Today’s challenge was not the easiest one with LEE Cheuk Yiu (N.14, Hong Kong). Besides, the European champion lost a very tight first set 21/19 after being ahead at 18/15. The second set was stressful, ANTONSEN chose not to attack in the first part whereas Lee was more aggressive than his opponent. A few mistakes of the Dane and Lee was 7 points ahead (16/9). This was when ANTONSEN chose to attack a bit more and came back to 20/19. But a lucky net shot brought him a deserved victory.

Rouxel, the local

The toughest man single match of the day, Thomas ROUXEL (N.39, France) was facing Kantaphon WANGCHAROEN (N.18, Thailand). Useless to say that all the French crowd was rooting for Rouxel, making the atmosphere of the match very electric. Despite a good start of the best thai single player (11/8 at the interlude) the French found the resources to be more aggressive on his shots to win the first set 21/15. Perhaps, ROUXEL spent too much energy in this set as the following one was easily won 21/11 by his opponent. The last set was the most contested one, the thai took a strong start but Rouxel found the energy to lead 11-10 at the interlude then 17-13. But the thai also had some resources and came back for money time. After saving 5 match points, it was ROUXEL who finally won 27/25 after 77 minutes on court. Few minutes after the match, ROUXEL seemed very happy about the outcome : “I thought about last week, it was almost the same, I lost 21-19 in the last game. But this time, luckily my coach Maxime and the crowd were there to support and I managed to win. I know that family and friends are here too, so very happy about how it ended. (…) With Orleans, this is my favorite tournament here in France. (…) He (his opponent) is among top 20 in the world so it is indeed a big performance”.

Powefull Gemke

The day began with an interesting match opposing Toma Junior POPOV (N.34, France) and Rasmus GEMKE (N.12, Denmark). At home, the French man wanted to show his talent against a top 15 player. Nevertheless, the 23 -year-old Danish player played clean and strong to qualify 21/14 21/10. After the match, Popov admitted : “He played better than I did (…) I hope Men Double will be different this afternoon”. A match he won with his brother a few hours later. On that same court, there was no surprise in the match opposing Brian YANG (N.41, Canada) to Shesar Horen RHUSTAVITO (N.20, Indonesia). The Indonesian managed to win in two sets 21-17 21-16.

Verma has recoverd, Caljouw has not

After retiring last week in quarter finals of the Denmark Open, Sameer VERMA (N.21, India) was in good shape to defeat LEE Dong Keun (N.59, Korea) 21/14 21/12. However, the score does not reflect the length of the rallies during the match. Indeed, they have been on court during almost an hour.

NG Ka Long Angus (N.9, Hong Kong) won after his opponent Mark CALJOUW (N.28) retired. The dutch player did not seem well enough on court to defend his chances and chose after 11 minutes (16/3) to put an end to the match.

Last but not least, Kanta TSUNEYAMA (N.13, Japan) played a serious game against LIEW Daren (N.33, Malaysia). The job has been quickly done in 36 minutes : 21/18 21/13.

See all the results of the women’s doubles draw here.

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