Day two at the HYLO Open in the Saarlandhalle in Saarbrücken – all about mixed doubles. The seeded German pairing of Jones Jansen and Thuc Nguyen moves into the next round.
Saarbrücken. “Happy, consistent, courageous.” Three words from Thuc Nguyen into the round of 16. She won her mixed doubles alongside Jones Jansen against the Ukrainians Oleksii Titov and Yevheniia Kantemyr (21:9, 21:13). Jansen said: “We focused on ourselves and implemented the plan. We know what we can do.” In April, Jansen/Nguyen made it to the quarter-finals of the European Championships – now they want to go at least as far in the same place at the HYLO Open.
A small moment of shock in the middle of the first set against the Ukrainians: Nguyen hit her opponent Kantemyr just under the eye with the shuttlecock during a quick net attack – unintentionally and yet so painfully.
The Ukrainian had to be treated and was visibly struggling with her eye, which was quickly swollen. The head hit affected the Ukrainian mixed doubles, Jones and Nguyen scored 14 points in a row across sets. In the end there was a clear two-set win (21:13, 21:9). Meet in the round of 16 on Thursday
Jansen/Nguyen on the French William Villeger/Flavie Vallet.
Four mixed doubles are eliminated
This makes the doubles seeded in 6th position the last remaining German mixed doubles at the home tournament in Saarbrücken. Marvin Datko and Julia Meyer lost to the 5th seeded Englishmen Greg and Jenny Mairs (15:21, 11:21). Datko: “At times we were really good. They end up playing in a different class. It’s difficult to maintain the pressure over the long term.”
Patrick and Franziska Volkmann had already failed in the morning session against the Englishmen Callum Hemming/Estelle van Leeuwen (14:21, 10:21). Malik Bourakkadi and Leona Michalski lost to Villeger/Vallet from France (18:21, 12:21). And finally Kenneth Neumann and Linda Efler also lost to the strong Spaniards Ruben Garcia/Lucia Rodriguez (19:21, 15:21). Efler said: “We played solidly in the first set. But then too much too hard, the Spaniards were totally prepared for that. We couldn’t implement our plan.”
Eckerlin and Sonnenschein in double duty
Two athletes from the German Badminton Association were in action twice on the second day of the HYLO Open. David Eckerlin played in men’s doubles and mixed doubles, Aaron Sonnenschein in men’s singles and doubles. Eckerlin and his partner Simon Krax won against the Finnish qualifiers Iikka Heino/Robin Jäntti (21:12, 21:15) – the French Olympians Toma and Christo Popov are waiting in the second round on Thursday. In the mixed doubles, Eckerlin and his Dutch partner Kirsten De Wit lost to two other Dutchmen, Dyron van Wijlick and the European Championship bronze medalist Cheryl Seinen (18:21, 21:17, 19:21).
Qualifying sunshine awaited a real top-class individual in the individual main field: the four-time Saarbrücken winner and current eighth in the world rankings Chou Tien Chen. Sonnenschein put up a brave fight against the Taiwanese, but still lost in two sets (14:21, 14:21). Chou praised: “He involved me in many strenuous rallies. If he gains more experience, he will become a really good player.”
Roth has to retire injured
In the men’s doubles, Sonnenschein was also eliminated alongside Jonathan Dresp – the duo appeared on the big stage of a BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament for the first time, but had no real chance against the English Callum Hemming/Ethan van Leeuwen (17:21 , 14:21). Sonnenschein said about the difference to the European Circuit: “The level is so much better here. But it still felt good.”
Qualifier Kian-Yu Oei missed out on a place in the round of the best 16; he lost in his opening match to the experienced Israeli Mischa Zilberman (13:21, 14:21). Germany’s Olympic participant Fabian Roth had to give up his game against the Dane Mads Christophersen in the first set due to an injury.
HYLO Open Live–Thursday from 5 p.m
The commented live broadcast from the Saarlandhalle will be broadcast free of charge and exclusively on Thursday Hylo.sport broadcast. In addition to studio guests and exclusive interviews, there is plenty of live badminton with German commentary.
All information about the HYLO Badminton Open can be found at www.hylo-open.de