YONEX FRENCH OPEN Day 3 - Persson and Nehwal First to Qualify

Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:31

Joachim Persson and Saina Nehwal were the first singles players to advance to the quarter-finals while Adriyanti Firdasari created one of the upsets of the day by beating the world number two Tine Rasmussen. Koo Kien Keat and Wong Pei Tty, last year's semi-finalists, also had their share of scares as the Belgian pair Wouter/Descamps almost eliminated them from the draw.

By Tarek HAFI (live in Paris). Photos: BadmintonPhoto.com (live)

Persson (pictured) started the game with impressive attacking play, preventing the young Indonesian from controlling the game. The Danish player covered the court with high speed and efficiency in an effort to keep the pace of the game at a very high level.

Santoso, fresh from his fantastic run at last week's Denmark Open, seemed far from his usual level, looking completely exhausted and unable to cover the court "He played really well today, and I was just too slow. I am a little bit tired," said Santoso.

Two games was sufficient for Joachim Persson to reach his second quarter-final in a row at the French Super Series.

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"It's much more than I expected. This year was not good for and everybody knows that," said Persson. "Maybe Simon was tired but he can still be very dangerous at every moment. I t's my first time playing so well this year, covering the whole court. Now I can play with much more confidence than the last few weeks, because when I entered this tournament I didn't expect any results. Even if I was to lose I would have thrown a party and the same if I win. I was too lacking in motivation and this result is a good thing at the end the year."

Saina Nehwal (pictured), was the first lady to book a place in the quarter-finals when she won her second round match against the very athletic Yip Pui Yin. The very deceptive Indian player didn't let the Hong Kong player set up her attacking game, pushing her to the back of the court with efficient offensive clears.

Saina, naturally all smiling after her match, commented: "I am feeling very good. Actually, before Denmark and French Opens, I had a fever. I couldn't train for four days. That is why I didn't play well in Denmark. After last week's quarter-final, I trained really hard so now I can play better and move very well."

Of the possibility of meeting Wang Lin in tomorrow's quarter final, Saina said: "I'm feeling very confident for tomorrow and very focused. Hopefully, tomorrow should be a good day, but as she didn't play in Denmark and she is training very hard, she just came back from training, so tomorrow's match should be very tough."

Last year's semi-finalists Koo Kien Keat and Wong Pei Tty were close to having an early exit in this tournament after they were more than troubled by the Belgian pair Nathalie Descamps and Wouter Claes, going to the rubber game. The very close fight was eventually won by the Malaysians but not without a scare, 17-21, 21-8, 21-15.

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The first upset was created by Adriyanti Firdasari (pictured), as the Indonesian player managed to get through the world number two and last week's Denmark Open champion, Tine Rasmussen. A three-game battle was needed for Firdasari to reach her first French Open quarter-final.

The fearless Indonesian player reacted well to the tall Dane's impressive attacking play by taking to net early and benefitting from several easy mistakes by Rasmussen. The Denmark Open champion looked completely exhausted on court and Firdasari got her ticket to the quarters after a forty-four-minute battle which finished 21-13, 13-21, 21-11.

"Winning last week was very tough mentally and my body didn't fully recover," said an exhausted Rasmussen. "She played really well. It wasn't just my day."

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