Paris: The Rio Olympic champions in men’s singles and women’s singles, Chen Long of China and Carolina Marin of Spain were sent packing in the French Open second round on Thursday.
Men’s singles No. 6 seed Chen Long who was defeated by Lee Hyun-il of Korea in the first round of Denmark Open last week, failed to halt his recent slump as he suffered a three-sets defeat against Anders Antonsen of Denmark, losing 21-15, 16-21, 16-21 in 79 minutes.
Antonsen is set to take on Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong in the quarter-finals.
In women’s competition, Carolina Marin and Lee Jang Mi of Korea were engaged in a cagey affair, but a late surge from Lee in the second set saw her reeled off 5 consecutive points from 16-19 to upset Marin in straight-sets 21-18, 21-19.
Lee will meet No. 7 seed He Bingjiao of China on Friday.
Meanwhile, Indian ace shuttler Saina Nehwal was also knocked out of the tournament, losing to Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi 19-21 21-23 in just 28 minutes.
The No. 8 seeds mixed doubles pair Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing became Malaysia’s sole representative at the tournament as both men’s doubles pairs Ong Yew Sin/Tan Wee Kiong and Goh V Shem/Teo Ee Yi have bowed out of the French Open on Thursday.
Tan/Lai defeated Ronan Labar/Audrey Fontaine of France 12-21, 21-11, 21-11 on Thursday and will face Olympic champions and No. 4 seeds Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia in the quarter-finals.
