Beaten last week, in the first round of the Malaysian Open, by the Danes Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund (21-13, 17-21, 21-9), Breton badista Thom Gicquel and his Ile-de-France partner Delphine Delrue took their revenge this Tuesday. The draw had therefore reserved the same opponents for them from the first round of the Indian Open and, this time, the French pair (world No. 5 in mixed doubles) left no room for suspense with a victory in two sets (21-17, 21-14) in New Delhi. This is their first victory in four confrontations against the Danes, although they are lower ranked than them (world No. 11).
In a very tight first round, Gicquel and Delrue broke away at the best moment by scoring the last four points (from 17-17 to 21-17). The scenario was quite different in the second round: the French widened the gap much earlier (9-4 then 19-9). However, they had to wait for their fourth match shuttlecock to validate their victory.
Facing the Japanese in the eighth
In the round of 16, Thursday, the Bretillian and his partner, both 27 years old, will face the Japanese Hiroki Midorikawa and Nami Matsuyama. The first is world No. 7 in mixed doubles but with another teammate, Natsu Saito. With the latter, he faced the French pair four times, for two victories (the last during the Finals in China, in December) and two defeats. Matsuyama is more of a regular in the women’s doubles tables, where the pair she forms with Chiharu Shida is world No. 12.
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