Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge are up for the challenge as they prepare to face Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty on Wednesday in the first round of the DAIHATSU Japan Open 2019.
Despite the pair playing on Wednesday, the tournament does get underway Tuesday with a number of Europeans in action.
English Men’s Doubles stand a chance
The first pair that springs out as a possible win for Europe is in Men’s Doubles with Marcus Ellis/Chris Langridge, who have been drawn against Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty from India.
Ellis speaking ahead of the Super 750, admits that there is no easy match and that Langridge and himself cannot get too ahead of themselves.
- With these top tournaments, we take it one match at a time because the standard is such a high level throughout the entire draw, Ellis said.
The two pairs have met twice before, which both came in 2018, the most recent being at the TOTAL BWF World Championships, which ended in a defeat for Ellis/Langridge but a very close contest, (19-21, 21-12, 19-21).
The two times European Games Gold medallist hopes that they can continue the good performances, but also says that the result will not determine if the Englishman is happy or not.
- We play against the top Indian pair so it is a great match-up for us and one we really want to win, Ellis said.
- We have had some good performances recently, so if we can continue that into Japan Open, I will be happy whatever the result, he continued.
Can Antonsen continue his form?
The Danish Men’s Singles player‚ Anders Antonsen, who came head to head with Chou Tien Chen last Sunday has another chance to claim important points for his Toyko 2020 Olympic dream.
Antonsen will face Sameer Verma from India on Wednesday in the first round of the Japan Open, which is not out of his capability as he has shown twice before out of the three meetings, the Dane has only lost once.
The two players are also neck-and-neck on the BWF World Rankings, so this match could go either way, but after reaching the final in Indonesia, Antonsen will have confidence going into this one.
You can see all of the draws for the DAIHATSU Japan Open 2019 here