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The return of Viktor Axelsen to a badminton court has not gone the way the Dane would have imagined after he suffered a defeat in the opening round of the VICTOR China Open on day one.
Axelsen, who was seeded sixth for the tournament, was playing his first match since the Sudirman Cup in May but after an hour-long match the Danish superstar fell short against Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama.
The unseeded Tsuneyema came back from a set down after Axelsen flew out of the blocks to take the opening game 21-10.
The lack of match fitness may have gotten to the Dane in the end however, as he seemed to lose momentum towards the end of both the second and deciding game and eventually lose the match 21-10, 14-21, 16-21.
Marin returns with a win
On the other hand, Carolina Marin had a fantastic return to the China Open after her recent injury trouble.
The Spaniard came through a difficult opening round match against fourth seed Nozomi Okuhara (JPN) in straight games 21-16, 21-18.
Marin was strong throughout the games and looked right back up to speed at the Olympic Sports Centre in Changzhou and held her nerve in the vital moments to close out two incredibly tight games.
The world number 24 will take on Beiwen Zhang (USA) in the second round tomorrow.
Boe and Conrad-Petersen upset the odds
Denmark’s Mathias Boe and Mads Conrad-Petersen continued their recent impressive run by knocking out the sixth seeds Cheng Kai Han and Hao Dong Zhou (China).
The two Danes are coming off both their win at the Russian Open back in July and a semifinal at the Chinese Taipei Open earlier this month.
They managed to continue some well gained momentum here with a straight game victory, 21-19, 21-18 and have an interesting pair in the next round.
Boe and Conrad-Petersen will have to face the pair that knocked them out of that Chinese Tapei Open in their last tournament together, Malaysia’s Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong, in tomorrow’s second round.
See the full draw for the second round of the China Open here.
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