Arnaud Merkle withdraws from the Madrid Spain Masters on the third day of competition. Merkle retired this morning in the round of 16 of the BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament.
Yesterday Merkle slipped on court during his first-round match against his compatriot Brice Leverdez. Despite winning in straight games, Merkle felt muscular pain in his left leg afterwards. The Frenchman had hip surgery just three months ago and his comeback on court was in Madrid. “Time to go home, treat the pain and come back again”, shared Merkle on his Instagram stories.
Victories for the Europeans
In the morning session of today’s round of 16, there was also some good news for European badminton fans.
The Danish mixed doubles pairs Mathias Thyrri/ Amalie Magelund and Mathias Christiansen/ Alexandra Bøje won their matches at the Madrid Spain Masters. Both duos will play tomorrow in the quarterfinals.
Gregory Mairs and Jenny Moore also showed an impressive performance today on court and beat Chang Ko-Chi and Lee Chih Chen 21-13 21-17. “We were down at the start of the second game. I think it was a case of regrouping and getting our tactics together. I think ultimately that gave us the win today”, said Mairs.
Denmark in power
Besides the mixed doubles pairs, Magnus Johannesen, Rasmus Gemke, Mia Blichfeldt and Line Christophersen also won their matches and made their way through tomorrow’s quarterfinals.
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here. You can watch the matches live
here.