The French mixed doubles Bastian Kersaudy and Lea Palermo won their first round at Thailand Masters 2018.
The level 5 tournament is the first international BWF tournament in the new structure which began with the new year of 2018. Many European players have travelled to Bangkok, Thailand, to take part in Thailand Masters from 9-14 January 2018.
Kersaudy and Palermo faced the 6th seeded Russian pair, Vitalij Durkin and Nina Vislova in the first round earlier on Tuesday, and prevailed.
Two sets ended with the score; 21-15, 21-16. Kersaudy and Palermo’s opponents in the second round will be either Tulamok and Saengchote of Thailand or Chen and Peck of Malaysia.
Tough luck for Europeans on day 1
A handful of European players from other European countries like Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Belarus, have also traveled to Bangkok to take part in Thailand Masters.
Day 1 held qualifying rounds and the first round of the top half of the mixed doubles. In the matches of the day, four clashes involved European players. Besides the all-European showdown, three other mixed doubles and a Belarusian women’s singles tried their luck but did not make it through for Wednesday.
For day 2, the second seeded mixed doubles Ronan Labar and Audrey Fontaine will try to follow their countryman and woman for their first round in the second half of the draw. The 2017 European medalists will face Yeung and Yeung from Hong Kong.