Paris: Men’s singles World No. 4 Chen Long moved into the quarter-finals of French Open on Thursday, defeating two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan 21-15, 21-16 in a 50-minute battle.
It was the 14th head-to-head career meeting between Cheng Long and Lin Dan in international competition and Lin was leading 9-5 after Thursday’s loss. Prior to Thursday’s match, both players last met in the 2019 Malaysian Open final where Lin Dan got the better of Chen 9-21, 21-17, 21-11.
Chen Long will face Shesar Hiren Rhustavito of Indonesia next.
In another men’s singles match, World No. 1 Kento Momota lost first game to Hans-kristian Solberg Vittinghus 17-21, and rallied from 16-19 to win the second set 21-19. He then trashed Vittinghus in the decider with a dominant 21-4 victory. Momota will take on Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia on Friday.
Carolina Marin of Spain exacted revenge on Nozomi Okuhara of Japan for her loss to Okuhara in the semi-final of Denmark Open last Saturday. Marin won the women’s singles second round match 21-18, 21-17 and will play Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand next.
Meanwhile, women’s singles World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying produced a brilliant display to see off Kim Ga Eun 21-17, 21-17 and now faces a blockbuster quarter-final clash with reigning World champion, PV Sindhu of India in the final 8.
