A mixed start: That is probably the best way to wrap up the first day of the Indonesian Open Premier Super Series from a European perspective. Five-time European Champion Peter Gade lost to Indonesian Sony Kuncoro in three games. Sony showed a strong performance recently by beating Lin Dan at the Thailand Open. Gade, who will retire later this year, lost 21-14, 7-21, 21-18 and was not able to repeat his success from last year where he reached the final.

Also his compatriot Viktor Axelsen suffered a defeat in the opening round of the 650.000 US Dollars event in Jakarta. The big talent from Odense lost to Ajay Ajaram of India in straight games and was quite unhappy with his performance. “Not a very good match for me today. I was struggling to find the right length on my shots and my movement felt stiff and slow”, wrote Axelsen on his official Facebook page.

Hans-Kristian Vittinghus moved into the second round by beating Daren Liew of Malaysia in three games. The Dane will likely meet 5th seed Lee Hyun-il of Korea to fight for the quarter finals ticket.

In the women’s singles four European stars opened the Indonesian campaign with victories. Current European Champion Tine Baun of Denmark, Germany’s Juliane Schenk and Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria showed strong performances in Jakarta. Also youngster Carolina Marin stormed into the second round by beating Hongkong Chinese Yip Hin in two games. In the next round the fanatic crowd in the Istora Senayan will see an all-European clash between Baun and Nedelcheva. Marin will face Chinese world number two Wang Xin.

Former world champions Thomas Laybourn/Kamilla Rytter Juhl (Denmark) crashed out in the first round as well as world champion runners up Chris Adcock/Imogen Bankier (England). Only Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark moved into the second round of the mixed doubles category.

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