Saarbrucken: Last Sunday’s French Open men’s singles champion and No. 4 seed Shi Yuqi got off to a good start at the Bitburger Open with an easy straight-sets win over Christopher Skrzeba of Germany 21-9, 21-7 in his opener on Tuesday. Shi will play Erik Meijs of Netherlands in the second round.
Malaysia’s World No. 111 Goh Giap Chin also advanced to the second round after he saw off Kalle Koljonen of Finland 21-16, 21-12 on Tuesday to set up a meeting against Henri Hurskainen of Sweden next.
Local shuttler and the 2012 European champion Marc Zwiebler was an easy opening-round winner when he needed only 23 minutes to beat compatriot Philip Discher 21-13, 21-11. Zwiebler will encounter with another German player Simon Wang on Wednesday.
In women’s singles competition, No. 1 seed He Bingjiao who won the French Open last Sunday is set to kick off her opening match against Fabienne Deprez of Germany on Wednesday.
The Bitburger Open is an international badminton tournament held in Germany since 1988. It is sponsored by the German pilsner beer brewery Bitburger.
