The eye-catching tie of the afternoon is the hosts France taking on England in the group stages of the women’s team championships. Following a swift victory by Qi Yufei against England’s Chloe Birch, most onlookers would have had England levelling the tie in the next women’s doubles match.
Jenny Moore and Victoria Williams had played the young pair of Vimala Heriau and Margot Lambert just last year at the Spanish International. It was a straightforward two-game win to England. However, this time it was on French soil and the crowd gave the French team a lot of support.
Heriau and Lambert took the opening game comfortably 21-13. England, needing this win to get back into the tie, increased the pressure, but the French ladies were able to hold on 21-18 and give France a 2-0 lead. After the match, Heriau explains why this was important for the team.
-It is really good for us. We were hoping for this as it is a really good thing for the next match. We knew England would be a really tough match, so to start with 2-0 it is really nice for us.
Beaming with confidence, the French team now feel they are in a great place. Commenting on this, Lambert states.
-The chances are pretty good to win the tie now. We have a strong women’s singles and women’s doubles to come, so I think at this point we can win 5-0.
For the full list of fixtures and results, click
here.