Paris: Both women’s singles finalists of last week’s Denmark Open, Akane Yamaguchi of Japan and Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan were knocked out of the French Open on Friday.
The 19-year-old Akane Yamaguchi who was eyeing her third consecutive Superseries women’s singles title after winning the Korea and Denmark Open, went down to Zhang Beiwen of USA 16-21, 21-13, 18-21 in a 53 minute battle at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin in Paris.
No. 4 seed Tai Tzu Ying was also overpowered by fifth-ranked Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea, losing the match 15-21, 21-5, 15-21 in 52 minutes.
The day of upsets continued as No. 3 seeds women’s doubles pair Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl of Denmark were sent packing by China’s Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan 19-21, 19-21.
Women’s doubles No. 4 seeds Greysia Polii and Nitya Krishinda Maheswari of Indonesia also crashed out of the tournament with 21-18, 12-21, 13-21 loss to China’s Huang Dongping and Li Yinhui.
In mixed doubles, Indonesia’s No. 2 seeds Praveen Jordan/Debby Susanto were beaten by No. 7 seeds Zheng Siwei/Chen Qingchen of China, going down 18-21, 14-21 in 36 minutes. However, South Korea’s No. 1 seeds Ko Sung Hyun and Kim Ha Na were on course for their French Open title after coming through a 3-set 22-20, 15-21, 21-15 battle over Japan’s Kenta Kazuno and Ayane Kurihara in the quarter-finals. Ko/Kim will play last week’s Denmark Open champions Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark on Saturday.
