General

Marin is seeking to aim high and bounce back in Paris (Photo: Badminton Photo)
Preview: Marin poised for revenge
Date: 10/22/2019 10:09 AM
Published by : Alan Raftery
We now move to the Stade Pierre de Coubertin in Paris for the French Open. A tournament that traditionally has a strong variation of champions each year. We have to go back to 2014 where Wang Shixian won two women’s singles titles back-to-back. 

Viktor Axelsen, despite playing some great badminton and reaching a semifinal in Denmark, was frustrated with not getting into the final. However, with a promising draw in Paris, he will have another good chance to prove himself. Axelsen will face France's Thomas Rouxel who was promoted from the reserve list after the withdrawal of India’s H. S. Prannoy. 

Another Dane who had a terrific week in Odense is Rasmus Gemke, reaching the quarterfinal and was the only player to win a game against the champion Kento Momota. Gemke will face the runner-up from last week, Chen Long, in the opening round. Intriguingly, they have only met once on court before and that was in round one of the All England open this year, where Gemke was victorious in straight games. 

Chance of revenge
If we are looking for good omens prior to the Olympics, then there may be one for Carolina Marin. Looking at the reigning Olympic champion’s road to Rio gold, Marin won the French Open in 2015. Marin would love to be emulating such form in the run-in to Tokyo. However, if she is to do this in Paris, then she will need to overturn last week’s loss to Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara. 

The draw for still unseeded Marin has resulted in a likely second round re-match with third seed Okuhara. Are we in for another special three game marathon?

For the full list of seeded entries and draw, click here. 

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