After four eliminations in four matches, the French contingent is still looking for a first success during the Open taking place in Asia.
The curse of the third set. Tuesday, for their entry into contention at the Malaysian Open – a tournament categorized as Super 1000, the highest grade on the BWF circuit – in men’s singles, Christo Popov and his brother Toma Junior were both eliminated in the final round, the first against Lee Cheuk Yiu (21-13, 19-21, 21-23) and the second against the Japanese Kenta Nishimoto (14-21, 21-14, 5-21). And this Wednesday, for their first round in the men’s doubles, the two badists from Fos-sur-Mer experienced an identical scenario by losing during the last act.
A real heartbreaker after having dealt a nice blow to their opponents, the Taiwanese Chen Zhi Ray and Lin Yu Chieh (38th in the world), at the end of the first round. Indeed, clearly leading 19-14, the two Fosséens inflicted a 7-0 on their rivals to pocket the set (21-19). Unfortunately, behind them, they were unable to continue. After a balanced start to the second round (3-3), the Popov brothers suffered a crippling 11-1 (14-4) from which they did not recover, despite a late surge (17-21). And the last round turned into an ordeal for the French doubles, led from the start 12-1 and who ended up logically losing (13-21).
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Delrue and Gicquel also eliminated
Unfortunately, the mixed doubles composed of Delphine and Thom Gicquel also suffered the same fate, with an entry elimination in the third set. Hardly varnished by the draw which offered them as opponents the Danes Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund (11th in the world), almost the worst opposition for them given their status as top seeds, the bronze medalists of the last World Championships in Paris last summer first clearly lost the first set (13-21), before racing in the lead throughout the second round to prolong the suspense (21-17). Alas, the last act completely escaped them (9-21), therefore bringing the total of eliminations for the French contingent to four in four matches, all concluded in three sets.
