GICQUEL and DELRUE are back

Thom GICQUEL and Delphine DELRUE (n°13, France) were waiting for a new win on the BWF World Tour for 5 months. It is now done with today’s victory against GOH Soon Huat / LAI Shevon Jemie (n°14, Malaysia): 21/19 21/16. 

A tough first game … 

Today’s question is: will Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue put an end to 5 defeats in a row? Their last victory was indeed last October during the round of 16 of the Denmark Open against Po-Hsuan YANG / Ling Fang HU (n°32, Chinese Taipei). However, their challengers are not the easiest team they could face. They are ranked just 1 place behind (n°14 versus n°13) and they have reached the quarter finals of the German Open last week.  

The 2023 French Championship gold medalists quickly know the whole Paris crowd is behind them as the audience is screaming after every winning smash of Thom Gicquel. But it does not remove all the stress that playing at home represents: 11/9 in favor of GOH/LAI at the interval. What comes after is a succession of 6 equalities from 14/14 to 19/19. A very intense first game and a huge suspense in which GICQUEL and DELRUE smartly manage to take the opening game: 21/19. It has been a little while since we have not seen them play so efficiently.  

… and a perfectly mastered second game 

With the same dynamic with which they finished the first game, the 2023 European Game silver medalist take the advantage on the scoreboard leading 11/9 at the interval. They manage to keep their 2 to 4 points advantage up to 20/16. And on the first time of asking they earn their first win for a long period.  

After the match, Delphine admits that: “we are relieved to win especially here in Paris in front of our home crowd”. Thom adds that: “the crowd helped us today as we have been doubting ourselves for a while. Especially for winning the first game which was a huge step to victory”. Seeing themselves a few months later: “it could be great to validate our tickets for the Olympics with great results here. It is so cool to experiment with the conditions here in this new Arena”.  

On Thursday, they will have a new challenge against the winner of the match between TANG/TSE (n° 8, Hong Kong) to YAMASHITA/SHINOYA (n°20, Japan).