In front of a cheering audience, Delphine Lansac has found her way into main draw in her home country. In her first match, she beat Clara Azurmendi (Spain) in three sets. This quite long match did not back her down to perform even better next round. In her second qualification match she faced world no.25 and multiple Pan-American champion, Michelle Li (Canada).
After almost an hour, Lansac came out as the victor of that match. ‘It was a crazy match. I gave everything, had faith all along during the game and it actually happened’ Lansac wrote on her facebook page. Lansac describes her match as ‘a puzzle’. ‘A puzzle because I found a way to avoid the errors I made in the past. All the discussions, trainings and painful moments finally fell into place for me during the game’ Lansac continued on her facebook page.
Lansac also had a great support from the audience, which she enjoyed very much. ‘I experienced great pleasure during the match’ she stated on her facebook page. She now will face world no. 5 Akane Yamaguchi from Japan.
Besides Lansac, two other Europeans have made it into main draw in women’s singles. Sofie Holmboe Dahl (Denmark) had a tough match, but was too strong for Chloe Birch (England) in her final qualification round. Holmboe Dahl will now face Pornpawee Chochuwong from Thailand.
Natalia Perminova (Russia) had it somewhat easier during her qualification matches. In her second game, she faced Yvonne Li (Germany) again after the Dutch Open, but managed to beat her more easily. ‘I just had a concentration full the match about what going on in to the court, and tried to change a speed, and found different solution in the rally’ Perminova stated to Badminton Europe. In main draw she will face world no.10, Yufei Chen from China.
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French players doing well on home soil
Besides Lansac, several other French players also found their way to main draw. Thomas Rouxel and Lucas Corvee won their qualification matches in men’s singles and will show their skills in main draw as well.
In men’s doubles both Bastian Kersaudy/Julien Maio and Thom Cicquel/Ronan Labar advanced to main draw in front of their home audience. In mixed doubles, both qualification matches and some first round matches were played at one day. The French audience saw Ronan Labar winning again, but this time with Audrey Fontaine, against new Danish couple Rasmussen/Kjaersfeldt. Their next match will be on Thursday.
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In women’s doubles the French pairs did not make it again fellow European players. Instead, English pair Chloe Birch/Jessica Pugh and young Dutch Pair Deborah Jille/Imke van der Aar will be seen on court in main draw.
To follow the matches and live score on the French Open 2017, see here.