French Open story stops here for GICQUEL / DELRUE

End of the French Open for Thom GICQUEL and Delphine DELRUE (n°13, France). The former world number 5 have been beaten by the world champions SEO Seung Jae and CHAE Yu Jung (n°3, South Korea): 12/21 9/21. A match to forget for the 5-time French champions but an adventure to remember in this 2024 French Open with 2 amazing wins.

The Koreans are the cleanest

The last time those two pairs met was during the 2023 Denmark Open in the quarterfinals with a crazy scenario. The world number 13 had won the first game and were leading 18/9 on the second game before being caught up and then losing the match : 24/22 19/21 20/22. No doubt, today the adidas arena’s favorite want their revenge.

Players enter the arena with the audience screaming and shouting to support the French pair. Will the public help the 5-time French champions as they did yesterday against TANG / TSE (n°8, Hong Kong)? Strange start, with a lot of mistakes from both parts. Maybe a bit more from the French side which explains the 11/9 in favor of the 2023 world champions at the break. Better in the 3 first shots than the locals, SEO and CHAE take a significant advance. The former world number 5 seem to lose confidence in their games. The Koreans take the opening game: 21/12.

GICQUEL: “Tricky to return his serve. (…) They played very well”

The second game starts. The world champions control the rallies: 11/5 interval. Far from their yesterday’s level, the French don’t find any solution to upset the Korean machine. The French crowd understands it, this is the end of the story in this 2024 French Open for GICQUEL and DELRUE: 9/21. One will not forget the two amazing wins they did this week, thanks for having set the mood to the adidas arena!

Thom GICQUEL: “Good start where we were winning points. There were good things. Afterwards, it was tricky to return his serve. They were gaining confidence and so they played very well. They were way stronger than us today.”

Delphine DELRUE: “We played too fast. It was not the initial plan. But it was hard to stick to the plan. Tactics was to play in front of her et make him move. But we played almost all the match long with him and he perfectly controlled the game, so it was difficult.”

Thom GICQUEL: “To sum up the week here, we will keep in mind our two first matches. It so cool to be back at this level even though it is difficult to say that after such a defeat. It is great to be back in the quarterfinals. We will learn from the match and try to do better next week (for the All England)”