After winning Turkey International right before Christmas, Peter Käsbauer and Olga Konon are back on court. This time at Yonex Estonian International where the Germans were off to a good start.

Käsbauer and Konon won their first-round match against Max Flynn and Lizzie Tolman from England 21-14 21-13, and in the second round the Germans beat Samy Corvee/Emilie Lefel from France 21-13 21-14 and they are ready to play in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

- We are happy with two wins in straight games. There are still things we can improve, but we are happy for the results, and we are looking forward to tomorrow, Peter Käsbauer says.

See also: Mitsova: I have to handle the pressure

Change before it was too late
Olga Konon is new to mixed doubles on senior level, but the retraining from singles player, where she has been ranked 26 in the World, to doubles is not hard.

- I were good in doubles as a junior, and I always knew, that I would make the change. I would like to make the change before it was too late, and I am happy to be on court with Peter, Konon says.

See also: All Yonex Estonian International results

Needs points
With the new structure on BWF tournaments it is hard for the German pair to qualify for the big tournaments, but the big goal for 2018 is to reach a higher level on the World ranking and to enter tournaments on the highest level.

- I honestly don’t like the new structure. We can’t enter tournament like All England because there is no qualification, so we have to gain points. We will be playing the next European tournaments, and we hope, that we can qualify for the World Championships later this year, Käsbauer says.

- The World ranking and improvement is our main focus this year. We need the points, so it is good for us to get a lot of matches in Turkey and here in Estonia, Konon adds.

Käsbauer and Konon is at the moment ranked number 245 in the World.