Thom Gicquel/ Delphine Delrue advance onto the quarterfinals at the German Open 2023, playing to win their second international medal of the year.
All-European clash today in the Round of 16 of the mixed doubles as Scots Adam Hall/ Julie Macpherson faced French duo Thom Gicquel/ Delphine Delrue. The two strong European pairs had not faced each other in the circuit since 2018.
The European Championships silver medallists won the match in straight games, 21-13 21-18. “It was a great first game for us, very solid. We gave them no chance and the plan went perfectly,” said Gicquel. “I think the hall was a lot slower today, so we opened the court more and it worked. We controlled the game. We have to keep playing like that.”
The second-seeded French pair will be facing Hiroki Midorikawa/ Natsu Saito in the quarterfinals tomorrow. “There are still a lot of good pairs. We have to be solid like today to continue in the tournament,” stated Delrue.
The mixed doubles top seeds are out
Competition is tough in Mülheim this week, and top seeds Yuta Watanabe/ Arisa Higashino will not be making it to the quarterfinals. The world number two pair had a tough match yesterday against South Korea’s Ko Sung Hyun/ Eom Hye Won, a match that went to three games.
Today, it was another pair from the same country that did not make it easy for the Japanese duo. Kim Won Ho/ Jeong Na Eun won the match 21-15 21-16. “We prepared for a tough match but today our opponents were tougher than us. We will be back next week after some time to relax and refresh, and after some good training,” said Watanabe.
“It is the way it is”
Another one of the strongest mixed doubles pairs in the competition, Mark Lamsfuss/ Isabel Lohau, is also bidding farewell to the Super 300 tournament. The European champions lost to Chinese Taipei’s Yang Po-Hsuan/ Hi Ling Fang, 21-13 21-18.
“We’ve just not performed our best. Sometimes it is the way it is, we lose these matches at this kind of level. It is very disappointing, especially on a home tournament,” stated Lamsfuss.
There are still more matches to come today in what will be a busy evening from Mülheim. Watch all matches
here.