The English player Chloe Birch have had a good start on 2017 Bitburger Badminton Open that conducted its’ first rounds of women’s singles on Wednesday, in Germany.
Birch faced Natalia Perminova from Russia in one of the first matches of the day, and became the victor after three sets; 21-18, 19-21, 23-21.
- On paper I probably wasn’t expected to win today but I knew I was in good form and if I played my game it was definitely a winnable game, Birch tells Badminton Europe.
It was a close match where the Englishwoman managed to fight back after losing the second set.
- Once I worked and extended the rallies that really helped as I felt my speed and stamina would help me take points in the later stages of the game.
A quality opponent
In the second round on Thursday, the opponent on the other side of the net will be Lee Chia Hsin from Chinese Taipei, and it will be a match that she is looking forward to play;
- Tomorrow I will be looking to go out and play relaxed and give it my all. I have nothing to lose and really looking forward to testing myself against a quality opponent.
Besides making it through the qualifications the day before, Birch is also playing women’s doubles with Jessica Pugh. They will face Delphine Delrue and Lea Palermo from France later on Wednesday afternoon.
European women’s singles
The three participating women’s singles from Germany, Fabienne Deprez, Luise Heim and Yvonne Li are all ready for the second round on home turf in Saarbrucken, on Thursday.
Line Kjærsfeldt is the only Dane through in the women’s singles event, as Sofie Holmboe Dahl, Mia Blichfeldt, Julie Dawall Jakobsen, Nathalia Koch Rohde, and, Mette Poulsen found themselves beaten in the first round. Kjærsfeldt won her match against Maria Ulitina from Ukraine, and is facing the top seed Beiwen Zhang, next.
The fifth and sixth seeds, Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour and Spain’s Beatriz Corrales, are also not in through for the next rounds. Corrales was beaten by Deprez in three sets, while Birch must test her strength against Gilmour’s superior.