Paris: Both Chong Wei Feng and Tee Jing Yee of Malaysia have breezed into the French Open main draw on Tuesday while two mixed doubles pairs Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying and Wong Fai Yin/Chow Mei Kuan were disappointed with first-round exits.
The 2015 SEA Games men’s champion Chong Wei Feng dispatched Denmark’s Christian Lind Thomsen 21-10, 21-9 in his first round of French Open qualifying, improving his head-to-head record against Thomsen to 1-2 after the match. Chong played his second qualifying match in the afternoon before moving into the main draw, defeating Raul Must of Estonia 21-11, 21-11 in 35 minutes. Chong will now play World No. 23 Sho Sasaki in the French Open first round on Wednesday.
World No. 39 women’s singles Tee Jing Yi was awarded a spot for the main draw at French Open after she overcame World No. 33 Rong Schafer of USA 24-22, 21-11 in her first round of qualifying, and made it past Delphine Lansac of France 21-11, 21-12 later in the afternoon. Tee faces a stern test in the first round on Wednesday against World No. 3 Sung Ji Hyun of Korea who held a 4-0 career records against the Malaysian.
After their first round loss to eventual Denmark Open champions Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na of Korea, Malaysian mixed doubles pair Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying took another early exit on Tuesday with their one-sided and painful loss to No. 8 seeds Lu Kai/Huang Yaqiong of China, bowing out 21-7, 21-9 in just 29 minutes.
While Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying’s loss have been particularly devastating, Wong Fai Yin/Chow Mei Kuan did not fare much better either. The World No. 44 mixed doubles pair from Malaysia was struggling to find the answers to ways of stopping attacks from reigning Denmark Open champions Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na of Korea, losing the match 21-12, 21-12 in 27 minutes.
Japanese Keigo Sonoda/Naoko Fukuman produced undeniably the biggest surprise of the day, as they fought back from one set down before going on to defeat mixed doubles second seeds Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia 16-21, 21-17, 21-13 in 55 minutes.
