The Irish Open 2023 kicked off yesterday in Dublin, Ireland, marking the commencement of the main draw after intense rounds of qualification matches.
Benedicte Sillassen, hailing from the RSL BEC Center of Excellence, emerged as one of the triumphant athletes, securing her spot in the women’s singles main draw with three impressive victories on the opening day.
Sillassen's journey in the qualifiers began with a convincing first-round win of 21-13 21-9 against England’s Carly Stevenson. She continued her streak with a second-round triumph over Germany’s Florentine Schöffski, securing a 21-11 21-17 victory. The Danish player concluded her successful run with a 21-16 21-14 win over Ukraine’s Tetyana Potapenko, sealing her entry into the main draw.
For Sillassen, this achievement holds particular significance as it marks her debut in the main draw at an Elite International level challenger – a milestone that bodes well for her promising career.
Reflecting on her historic win, Sillassen expressed her joy, stating, “I am very happy with my [three] wins today; it means a lot for me to demonstrate that my level is improving in these kinds of tournaments.”
Remaining focused on the task at hand, she added, “I'm going to take it one match at a time and then just prepare the best I can before the match, so that I am ready to play again tomorrow.”
Sharing her initial tournament goal, Sillassen said, “My goal for this tournament was actually to get into the main draw, which I now am. So now I'm just looking forward to playing in the main draw and seeing how that goes.”
Her campaign kicks off later today at 2pm CET, against Bulgaria’s Hristomira Popovska.
The main draw is scheduled to commence at 9am CET. Don't miss the live action; tune into badmintoneurope.tv to catch all the moments.