Circuit

Anne Tran’s versatility shines through on qualification day
Date: 3/28/2014 10:16 AM
Published by : Manuel Røsler
The French International got underway this morning at the Palais Des Sports in Orleans with an action packed schedule of qualification matches in all five disciplines. French youngster Anne Tran looked the cream of the crop in the women’s singles draw coming through qualification without dropping a single game.

Tran is the without doubt the happiest of the local players this evening expending as little energy as possible to advance to the main draw. The French Youngster, who is more accustomed to mixing it up on the doubles court, showed she certainly is one to watch for the future with skills on the singles court to match that of her doubles expertise.

The French woman didn’t drop a game en route to main draw qualification in a pair of matches that barely extended beyond 20 minutes court time each.  Fabienne Deprez matched Tran’s performance as the German too advanced to the main draw without dropping a game.

Alina Hammes will count herself unfortunate not to follow compatriot Deprez into the main draw after suffering an injury at a crucial time in the third game against Weronica Grudzina of Poland. The German went over heavily on her ankle and looked to be in serious pain while in control of the deciding game and the Pole seized the opportunity to kill off her opponent with Hammes hampered mentally by the fall and the resulting lack of confidence in her injured foot.

Marin Baumann and Yohan Turlan kept the French singles juggernaut rolling by taking two of the 8 men’s singles qualification spots in the main draw. Turlan was taking to three games by England’s Rhys Walker in his final qualification match while Baumann is sure to be feeling the effects of a hard day at the office playing a deciding game in each of his three qualification matches which will sure to have some residual effect come tomorrows first round.

Hand of God helps Russians advance

A hand of God was needed to help Russian pair Rodion Kargaev and Ekaterina Bolotova over the line in their mixed doubles qualification match after a freak winner played by Kargaev caught not only Belgian pair Dierickx and Snoeck by surprise but the umpire to.

Kargaev dropped his racket as his partner played a net spin and instinctively played a drop with the palm of his hand from the rear court from the resulting lift for a winner to leave all watching stunned in silence. The umpire awarded the point to the Russians as he clearly missed the incident to the utter dismay of the Belgian pair.

However there was some joy for the Belgian contingent as Oleffe and Annys battled through a pair off three games matches to add their names to the main draw. The Belgians will be hoping to execute some revenge on the Russians on behalf of their compatriots as by a strange twist of fate both play each other in tomorrow’s first round proper.

Local French pair Sebastian Vincent and Andrea Vanderstukken will have counted themselves lucky just to be in the qualification draw after being promoted from the reserve list at the last minute due to withdrawals. With nothing to loose the French duo came through in three games against Mittelheister and Normand to book and most unexpected main draw spot.

For all results from Orleans click HERE

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Article and Image by Mark Phelan (Live in Orleans)
©badmintoneurope.com. All rights reserved.

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