After a day and a half of the Spain Masters in Barcelona there has been a number of good results for European players but on the other hand, some shocks on court.
Following a very busy European Mixed Team Championships with Denmark beating Germany in the final on Sunday, some shocks have occurred at the start of the Spain Masters.
Overall good morning
European players got off to a winning start today with Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen leading the way with a 21-14/21-11 win against their Chinese Taipei opponents Chang Ko-Chi/Po Li Wei.
Soon after came wins from Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva and Ekaterina Bolotova/Alina Davletova who beat fellow Europeans Chloe Birch/Lauren Smith in straight games.
Towards the end of the morning, the Danish Men’s Doubles pair Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen took an easy win while Christo Popov/Toma Junior Popov narrowly lost to their opponents from India.
Ending the morning in a strong fashion, the Danish spirit was back with Mads Pieler Kolding/Niclas Nohr enjoying their time as a pair, but they had to fight for this one, winning over three games.
The Danes managed to come back from a game down to beat Chinese Taipei opponents Lee Jhe-Huei/Yang Po-Husan (20-22, 23-21, 22-20)
Shock of yesterday
Danish Mixed Doubles pair Mathias Christiansen/Christinna Pedersen did not manage to take the form from last week into Spain and fell short to French pair Thom Giquel/Delphine Delrue who won comfortably.
The French pair played against the Danes for the first time during last week’s EMTC 19 and were on the wrong end of a 21-9,21-9 defeat.
This time it was time for revenge with Delrue and Giquel taking two straight games 21-14,21-14.
- First big performance with Thom Giquel against 9th in the world, Christiansen/Pedersen with a two-set win, Delphine Delrue posted on her Instagram account.
- So happy to win after last week’s severe defeat, she added.
Find the draw of the Barcelona Spain Masters 2019 here