The 2019 Orléans Masters got underway on Tuesday with a number of Europe’s top players looking to take home the title in the BWF Super 100 event.
The Palais Des Sports in Orléans hosts the action from the 19th to the 24th March with the Qualification rounds and the beginning of the opening round of the Men’s Singles taking place on Day One.
Good start for Claerbout
The main focus of the opening day was on the first round of the Men's Singles, which got underway in the day’s evening session, and it was joy for the home crowd after a hard-fought victory for Lucas Claerbout (France).
The Frenchman booked his place into the second round after a near 50 minute back and forth match-up with Kan Chao Yu (Chinese Tapei).
Claerbout had to come from behind to do it after losing the opening game by a comfortable 21-13 score line. The home crowd got behind the world number 86 however as he managed to bounce back in the second game, winning nine straight points to storm to a 21-16 win to level the match.
The Estonian International winner then took the final game with a comfortable 21-15 win to move into round two, where the Frenchman will face Finland’s Eetu Heino.
Both Ludik and Dziolko fall short
It wasn’t as good a day for both Milan Ludik (Czech Republic)and Adrian Dziolko (Poland) however.
The two European single start were both beaten in their openinground matches in the evening session.
First, Dziolko fell to a 22-20, 21-18 defeat to Japan’s Yuto Watanabe. It was a tough opening draw for the Pole, with Watanabe being ranked 40 places higher than him in the World rankings but Dziolko still ran the Japan star close.
After being behind for the majority of the opening game Dziolko fought back from 20-16 to 20-20 to take it into a tie break but just could not carry on the momentum to snatch the opening game. The second game was a similar story with Dziolko constantly chasing Watanabe but not quite being able to gain the upper hand eventually losing out just 21-18.
As for Ludik, he’ll be disappointed to be going out in the opening round in Orléans. The Czech Republic star was beaten by India Harsheel Dani 21-19, 21-13 in just 30 minutes to single the end of his campaign.
Ludik was in control for the majority of the opening game but was unable to see it through, eventually allowing Dani to win 10 of the game’s final 14 points to come from behind and take the opening game 21-19. It got worse in the second game as Dani stormed into a 10-7 lead and never looked back, winning the game by 21 points to 13.
See all the results from Day One here