Chris and Gabrielle Adcock lost against the best Mixed Doubles pair in the world at the YONEX French Open. Now, Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith have to face it in the quarterfinals.
On Thursday around 6.30 PM (CET), the crowd in the Stade de Pierre Coubertin was screaming very loud. The reason: Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith reached the quarterfinals of the YONEX French Open after a very close and tough match.
In the round of 16, Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith were playing against the Malaysian pair, Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai.
After winning the first game 21-19, the English pair had to accept a defeat in the second game; they lost closely with 22-24.
A comeback in the last minute
After laying behind in the last game of the match with 11-3, Ellis/Smith was able to come back and decide the match for themselves in the end, with 21-19.
- We enjoy playing here. It is a little bit like Europe plays versus Asia, and the crowd here is supporting us very much. It is amazing, Marcus Ellis said after the match.
Now, the English Mixed Double has to compete against world-ranked number one pair, Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong.
- We are looking forward to the battle, Lauren Smith said.
The second defeat for the Adcocks’
Earlier on Thursday, Chris and Gabrielle Adcock were facing Marcus Ellis’ and Lauren Smiths’ upcoming opponents.
After losing against Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong last week at the DANISA Denmark Open, the English pair had to accept the second defeat at the YONEX French Open. They lost with 12-21 and 11-21.
- They were better than us in pretty every area. Normally, we can beat pairs from speed but today their speed has been on a whole new level, Gabrielle Adcock said after the match.
- In the second game, we were leading in the beginning, because they made mistakes but then, we did even more and they got momentum. But they are the best pair in the world at the moment, Chris Adcock added.