What an exciting first day of the prestigious Super 1000 tournament: The Indonesian Open. The hall was heated and there was tension everywhere. But the biggest surprise of the day had to be Brice Leverdez who beat Chen Long..
In a thriller of almost one hour and a half, Leverdez (France) won the ultimate fight against the Olympic Champion and current world number 5 Chen Long (China).
After losing the first set, Leverdez also faced a match point against him in the second set. But he kept his head cool, saved the match point and even turned the second set in his advantage.
In the third set it seemed that Leverdez reached his end station. Nevertheless, with his last amount of energy Leverdez pushed all the way through the end of the third set. This hope has turned into a fact.
Read: Preview: Players to watch
Amazing crowd
- Another great battle today with Chen Long. Enjoyed playing there with an insane crowd today!!, Leverdez commented after his match on his facebook page.
Also Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) who beat public’s favorite Jonathan Christie, had a good time playing at the amazing venue.
- As always awesome experience to play at Istora. Thanks to Jonatan Christie for a good fight and thanks to all the Indonesian fans who came to watch, Axelsen wrote on his facebook page.
Read: 12th Malaysia Open title for Lee Chong Wei
Men’s doubles hopes and rise
Besides Axelsen and Leverdez, most Europeans actually had a hard time progressing through next rounds. Two European pair made it to the next round at the expense of other European pairs:
Christiansen and Pedersen (Denmark) took out brother and sister Magee (Ireland) in mixed doubles. At the men’s doubles Ivanov and Sozonov (Russia) beat Danish pair Nohr and Antonsen.
Anders Skaarup Rasmussen and Kim Astrup reached round two by not defeating a fellow European pair. In exactly one hour they beat Malaysian pair Goh Sem and Tan Wee Kiong.
The other first round matches will be played the next day.
Follow all the matches results and live score here.