Paris: The Beijing and London Olympic champion Lin Dan will face the Rio Olympic champion Chen Long in their second head-to-head match of the season in the French Open second round on Thursday.
Lin Dan defeated French player Brice Leverdez 21-12, 21-9 in the first round that kicked off on Tuesday, while Chen Long registered a 21-14, 21-12 victory over Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke in 48 minutes on Wednesday.
The last time both Lin and Chen met was in the Malaysia Open final, where Lin overcame Chen 9-21, 21-17, 21-11 to win the title.
Meanwhile, World No. 1 Kento Momota had to dig deep to beat Wang Tzu Wei of Taiwan 15-21, 21-15, 21-16 to enter the second round. Momota will face Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus of Denmark in the next round.
In men’s doubles, World No. 13 Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia saw off World No. 12 Choi Solgyu/Seo Seung Jae of Korea 21-17, 21-15 to advance to the second round. Chia/Soh will take on World No. 8 Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark in the final 16.
Malaysia’s Chow Mei Kuan/Lee Meng Yean cruised into the women’s doubles second round when they outlasted Nadia Fankhauser (Switzerland)/Iris Tabeling (Netherlands) 21-10, 21-15. Chow/Lee will play Hsu Ya Ching/Hu Ling Fang of Taiwan on Thursday.
