Paris: On Friday, Paris will feature a nice French kiss for badminton fans.
After playing each other at last Friday’s Denmark Open quarter-finals, where World No. 5 Loh Kean Yew of Singapore walked away with a 21-17, 21-10 victory against World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen, the two badminton stars will take on each other again in the French Open quarter-finals on Friday.
Loh showed strong court control to beat Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan 21-14, 21-11 on Thursday while Viktor Axelsen fended off a strong comeback by Sitthikom Thammasin in the second round of the French Open. Thammasin fought from 11-19 down in the first set, to narrow the gap to 19-20 before losing the first game to Axelsen 19-21. Axelsen then advanced by winning the second game 21-17.
Axelsen held a 4-2 career head-to-head advantage over Loh prior to Friday’s meeting.
In men’s doubles, England’s World No. 13 Ben Lane/Sean Vendy pulled off an upset to beat last week’s Denmark Open champions – World No. 6 Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto 16-21, 23-21, 21-15.
Lane/Vendy will play Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang of China on Friday. Liang/Wang defeated reigning world champions – Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik in the first round.
Malaysia’s men’s doubles World No. 9 Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi secured a spot in the quarter-finals when they saw off a spirited challenge from World No. 14 Leo Rolly Carnando/Daniel Marthin of Indonesia 21-18, 17-21, 22-20 to play Choi Sol Gyu/Kim Won Ho of Korea on Friday.
Meanwhile, the women’s doubles World No. 11 Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan from Malaysia overcame Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma/Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi of Indonesia 21-16, 21-14 to meet No. 3 seeds Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida of Japan.
Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida advanced after defeating the Danish pair, Alexandra Boje/Amalie Magelund 21-18, 21-7.
This would be a good chance for Tan/Muralitharan to make up for their disappointment at the Denmark Open last week when they were stopped in the second round.
