To warm up, the public at the Pierre-de-Coubertin stadium was treated to two matches involving the French, this Thursday in Paris, and the fervor was present to guide the steps of the Tricolores during the second round of the French Open. badminton (IFB). But it took a little more for the Blues to be able to reach the quarter-finals: neither the pair of men’s doubles made up of Christo and Toma Junior Popov nor Thomas Rouxel in singles succeeded in playing their game, in posters where they did not leave favorites.
The Popov brothers got the ball rolling and the mastery of the Indonesian duo Ardianto-Alfian made the difference. The world numbers 7 won in straight sets and were only really worried at the start of the game (21-12, 21-15).
In line with his excellent first lap, Thomas Rouxel put up a more consistent resistance to Cheuk Yiu Lee (14th in the world), and the Frenchman (n ° 39) was even leading the race at the break of the first round. But a slump of seven lost points revived the Hong Kong player, who concluded despite a small fright in the second set (21-17, 21-18).
Leverdez in French last chance
Last French representative to compete in this second round, Brice Leverdez (37th in SH) will face Tien Chen Chou at the end of the day, 4th in the world and winner of the IFB in 2014. The nine-time champion of France has the advantage in direct confrontations (8 wins against 3 defeats).
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