MATSUYAMA / SHIDA defeat home’s favorite TRAN / LAMBERT
MATSUYAMA / SHIDA and their impassable defense
Huge challenge for Anne TRAN and Margot LAMBERT, after a great competition last week in Germany where they reached the semis. The French pair is facing the number 6 seed Nami MATSUYAMA and Chiharu SHIDA. Back to their previous confrontations, one can notice that the 2024 French championship gold medalists never won against their today’s opponents : 0/2 in the confrontations.
5:48pm the entrance of LAMBERT / TRAN on court brings Paris audience to boiling point. Pushed by the public energy, the 3-time French Championship gold medalists try to take the attack. But the Japanese defend so well. It is like hitting a wall. Besides, the 2023 China Open winners take back the attack and easily find their ways through the French defense. The French pair looks powerless and with no solution to upset the MATSUYAMA / SHIDA. They logically lost the first game : 12/21.
The reaction was not enough
The start of the second game is way tighter with never more than a 2-point gap at the scoreboard. That is true until 12/12. Indeed, at this point, it looks like the 2023 Indian Open winners have found the gas pedal gaining every single point up to 18/12. The work is done for the 2023 India Open winners, and they easily conclude : 21/12 21/15. Tomorrow the top-ranked Japanese team will face Setyana MAPASA and Angela WU (n°35, Australia) who outstandingly earn their ticket against Vivian HOO and LIM Chiew Sien (n°36, Malaysia).
Anne TRAN : “We did not manage to find a solution in different parts of the game especially in defense. It is disappointing, we were hoping for a better result. (…) They played very well today. They put a lot of pressure even when we were attacking. (…) We managed to hold up a little bit during the second game but not long enough especially by lacking some accuracy in our shots.”.