Paris: Taiwan’s World No. 1 women’s singles player Tai Tzu Ying showed great determination to outlast World No. 14 Gao Fangjie 21-12, 21-17 in 38 minutes.
Tai who lost to Gao in the first round of 2018 China Open in September, was in the attacking mode right from the beginning to finish the first set easily. The Taiwanese player met some resistance in the second, but was able to move quickly and made her opponent work hard for every point to ultimately walk off the court laughing.
The No. 1 seed Tai Tzu Ying will next face Saina Nehwal of India. Both players are meeting each other for the second time in less a week, where Tai had battled past in-form Nehwal 21-13, 13-21, 21-6 to win the Denmark Open last Sunday.
In men’s singles, last week’s Denmark Open winner, Kento Momota of Japan remained on course to win his second BWF World Tour Super 750 tournaments in two weeks when the World No. 1 Japanese player showed no sign of slowing down to beat compatriot Kazumasa Sakai 21-17, 21-17 in 48 minutes.
Momota will play No. 5 seed Kidambi Srikanth of India in the quarter-finals.
Malaysia’s challenge in the of the USD 750,000 French Open BWF World Tour Super 750 in Paris had come to an end after two doubles pairs were sent packing in the second round.
The No. 8 seeds mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai squandered a 11-3, 13-5 lead in the decider, suffering a shock loss to unseeded Marcus Ellis/Lauren Smith of England 21-19, 22-24, 21-19 in 81 minutes.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s young men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik, was no match for Han Chengkai/Zhou Haodong of China, losing 19-21, 16-21 in 33 minutes.
