The first big surprise of the day was the first round-elimination of the top seeded French Mathieu Lo Ying Ping by Germany's Richard Domke.

No less than three Germans, Roovers, Schmidt (No. 5) and Reuter (No. 6) have qualified for quarter finals of men's singles draw. The "last French standing" in the draw is Marin Baumann, who confirmed his status as a rising star of badminton in France. For the first time in his career he moved into a quarter finals of an international tournament.

The Indian Anand Pawar (No. 3), the Finnish Eetu Heino (No. 7), Malaysians Goh Soon Huat (No. 8) and Misbun Ramdan (No. 4) complete the draw in the men's singles category.

The spectators in Orelans saw interesting games also in the women's singles: While the number one seed Judith Meulendijks (Netherlands) began her tournament so easily, it was not the case for Mexican Montero (No. 3) who already lost in the first round. The surprises continued with the Franco-Malaysian Sashina Vignes Waran who lost in the second round against Malaysian Sannatasah Saniru in a wonderful and close match 23-25 21-16 21-14.

Anu Nieminen (No. 4) and Akvile Stapusaityte (No. 7), entered the quarter finals as well as the Swiss Nicole Schaller, who won her match against Karyn Velez, USA (No. 6).

In women's doubles, the Danish and Germans showed strong performances. Belgian, French, Malaysian and Welsh duos were joined them in quarter finals.

Two French pairs access to the quarter finals of men’s doubles, Vincent & Constantin, winners of the Banuinvest and Estonian international, and the young players Baumann &  Corvee. No trouble for the German top seeded pair of Käsbauer/Zurvonne, No. 4 Heinz/Schwenger and for Belgians No. 3 of the draw, Gierickx/Golinski. The eighth pair which qualified for the quarter finals in men's doubles is no other than the current world champion junior Nelson Wei Keat Heg & Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia.

Finally, in the mixed doubles, the French Carême & Fontaine, seeded No. 2, are caught by the young Malaysian pair, Nelson Heg Wei Keat & Chow Mei Kuan. Two pairs of German, French and English with the Bulgarian pair N°3 (Makarski &  Dimova) and Malaysians, mentioned above will battle it out for the final four.

On Saturday, the quarter finals and semifinals are on the agenda of the French International.

For all results and draws click HERE.

Article by Fanny Parmentier and photo by Jerome Collet