Paris: Malaysian shuttler Daren Liew continued to struggle in Europe as he was defeated by Rajiv Ouseph of England, losing 19-21, 17-21 in the first round of French Open on Tuesday.
Ouseph will next take on Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand in the second round.
Meanwhile, last week’s Denmark Open runner-up Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan became the biggest men’s singles casualty on Tuesday as he went down to Rasmus Gemke of Denmark 21-11, 18-21, 21-12 in 76 minutes. Gemke will clash with compatriot Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus for a spot in the quarter-finals.
Malaysia’s young men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik Soh, however, managed to produce a stellar display to see off Phillip Chew/Ryan Chew of USA 27-25, 21-17 to enter the French Open second round.
Chia/Soh are set to meet Han Chengkai/Zhou Haodong of China next.
In women’s singles, the World No. 3 PV Sindhu of India was once again beginning her campaign against Zhang Beiwen of USA. Although Zhang sent the Indian shuttler packing in the first round of Denmark Open last week, but Sindhu did not let history repeat itself by exacting the revenge this time as she disposed the American shuttler 21-17, 21-8 in just 34 minutes.
Sindhu will be up against Sayaka Sato of Japan in the next round.
Due to the hectic badminton schedule in 2018, big names such as Viktor Axelsen, Carolina Marin have pulled out of the French Open citing injuries.
