The Yonex Swiss Open, a Grand Prix Gold event with a total prize money of 120.000 Dollars, kicked off today in Basel with the qualification stage and a couple of interesting first round matches in the men’s singles category.
Danish youngster Anders Antonsen has made a winning start to his Yonex Swiss Open campaign but not without a scare from unheralded Finnish shuttler Kalle Koljonen.
The former European Junior Champion had to battle from a game down and a (saved) match point in the second game to claim a hard-fought 16-21, 22-20, 21-9 win over the world No. 81.
Antonsen will face England’s Toby Penty in Wednesday’s second round.
Fabian Roth beat Hendrikho Kho Wibowo of Indonesia 21-10, 21-18 to advance to the next round. The 50th ranked German will face eight seeded Hsu Jen Hao of Taiwan.
The world number 37, Brice Leverdez entered the second round of the competition after delivering a solid performance against Denmark’s Kim Bruun. The French number one won 21-12, 21-19 and will face Kasper Lehikoinen for a place in the last 16 stage.
The big story for the Swiss fans in the St. Jakobshalle took place in the late Tuesday evening, as badminton icon Lin Dan made his appearance. The five-time world champion from China eased past French hopeful Arnaud Merkle in two games 21-14, 21-5 to book a second round clash with Japanese Koki Watanabe.
Scotland’s Kierian Merrilees got off to an equally convincing but expected victory on Tuesday with a 21-3, 21-7 win over 243th-ranked Michael Spencer-Smith.
The Yonex German Open champions Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen will start their bid for second Grand Prix Gold of the year, against giants Hendra Setiawan and Boon Heong Tang. Indonesia’s Setiawan is a three time world champion in the men’s doubles.
The Yonex Swiss Open is set to kick off Tuesday 09.00 AM with the first round matches in the women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Matches to watch on Wednesday:
Mark Lamsfuß/Isabel Herttrich (GER) vs Ronald Alexander/Melati Oktavianti (INA)
Rasmus Gemke (DEN) vs Qiao Bin (CHN)
Anastasia Chervykova/Olga Morozova (RUS) - Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan (CHN)
Fabian Roth (GER) - Hsu Jen Hao (TPE)
Rasmus Fladberg/Frederik Colberg (DEN) - Raphael Beck/Peter Käsbauer (GER)
Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (DEN) - Hendra Setiawan/Boon Heong Tang (INA/MAS)
Click HERE for all results of the Yonex Swiss Open 2017.
Article by Manuel Rösler. Photo by BadmintonPhoto.