It’s day three of the PETRONAS Malaysia Open 2023 and after an intense day of matches in Kuala Lumpur, nine European players have secured a spot in tomorrow’s quarterfinals.
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In today’s round of 16, Carolina Marín played against Pornpawee Chochuwong. The women’s singles players have faced each other nine times before, with Marín winning eight of them. Today was no exception, as the Spaniard won 21-14 21-17 versus the Thai athlete. In the quarterfinals, Marín will face the world’s number two, Chen Yu Fei from China.
Today's second successful European women’s singles player was Mia Blichfeldt from Denmark who won today’s match 21-17, 19-21, 21-14 against Aya Ohori from Japan. "It's hard to keep the tactics going through a whole game. I feel like I get into it quickly when we switch sides, but it's hard to stick with it. After all, the opponent also wants to take the initiative”, shares Blichfeldt with TV 2 SPORT after her match. In the quarterfinals, the Danish player will face the world’s number one Akane Yamaguchi: "There's a lot of emotion in it, but I think I'm proving to myself that I have to keep sticking to the plan. I'm not going to start taking the easy solutions. That's what makes me come back”, adds Blichfeldt.
The Bulgarian duo Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva played in today’s earlier session against Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela from India. After a 69-minute intense match, the Stoeva sisters won 21-13, 15-21, 21-17. Tomorrow, they will face the world’s number one women’s doubles pair Chen Qing Chen/ Jia Yi Fan from China.
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On his 24th birthday, Thom Gicquel conquered a spot in the quarterfinals together with his mixed doubles partner Delphine Delrue. The French duo won against Hoo Pang Ron and Teoh Mei Xing from Thailand in a three-game match 21-18, 13-21, 21-12. Their next opponents will be the mixed doubles number one in the world, Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong, from China.
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After winning his opening round at the Malaysia Open 2023, Anders Antonsen couldn’t make it today against Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, from Indonesia. The 72-minute match resulted in a loss for the Dane 14-21, 21-17, 17-21. "There are some duels where you just get an 'argh feeling'”, shares Antonsen with TV 2 SPORT. “It hurt my legs and the last part of the game was really tough. There were tough duels throughout”, adds the Dane: “I'm so sorry I don't take the win because I led on what's the bad side in the third set and get onto what's supposed to be the good one”.
On the other hand, Viktor Axelsen has a spot in the quarterfinals. The number one in the world was supposed to play against Liew Daren, who withdrew. Tomorrow, Axelsen will face Kenta Nishimoto, from Japan.
European Champions Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel didn’t pass the second round at the Malaysia Open 2023. The German pair fought through a three-game match, in which they lost 21-8, 19-21, 16-21 to Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto from Indonesia.
The day at the Malaysia Open ended with another win for the European players. Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen made their way to the quarterfinals and won against Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin 21-13 21-9. Tomorrow they will face Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, from China.
BWF will stream tomorrow's quarterfinals on their YouTube channel. Find the link
here.