Lianne Tan and Sabrina Jaquet met once again at the Denmark Open 2020, in yet another marathon match.
Belgium’s Lianne Tan has played the Swiss singles star, Sabrina Jaquet, six times previously. Meaning that she knew her opponent very well. This perhaps put her at ease when coming into the Denmark Open following seven months without competitive play. In fact, they have crossed paths three times in the Road to Tokyo qualification alone.
Tan, with the five to one head to head advantage coming into today, was bringing a lot of belief she can book her spot in the second round.
-We know each other very well. Even though I am leading in the head to head, I know that every time I won it was a very hard battle. So, I knew that today would be very hard because we both like to run, but I am happy I could win today.
The world number 45 had to have one of her three-game marathon’s with Jaquet, but after losing the opening game, she had to change her game.
-I had to be a bit more positive in the second game because I think I was 18-14 up in the first and lost my focus. So my coach told me to stay more positive in the second game and keep the fight because I feel we have been practising really well in the period without tournaments so I wanted to put in a good performance here today.
I will recover
After such a gruelling first match back to tournament play, there is always the consideration of additional fatigue. However, Tan is feeling good.
-I have a day of rest tomorrow, so it is fine. Even though I had a tough game today physically I am feeling good. I am sure I will recover for Thursday.
Come Thursday, her second round opponent will be France’s Leonice Huet, who defeated Czech Republic’s Katerina Tomalova earlier today.