Taiwan’s Wang Tzu-wei on Thursday upset world No. 1 shuttler Viktor Axelsen to advance to the men’s singles quarter-finals at the French Open.
Wang bested the formidable Dane 21-12, 21-17 after Axelsen seemed poised to mount a comeback midway through the second game.
In the opening game, Wang jumped to a 10-1 lead, and while Axelson narrowed that to five points at 12-7, the 29-year-old Taiwanese, who has never ranked higher than world No. 25 in his long career, held on to take the game.
Photo: CNA
He then raced out to an 8-1 lead to start the second game, but Axelsen picked up his pace and tied the game 10-10.
With Axelsen holding the momentum, Wang found his rhythm again with the score tied at 12-12, winning seven of the next eight points to go up 19-13 to essentially seal the match.
Wang was grateful to have finally defeated Axelsen after losing to him all six times the two had previously played each other.
“He’s world No. 1. He’s really strong and I’ve never beaten him before,” Wang told the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Web site. “So I was relaxed and tried to do my best on court, and I’m glad I did well today. He made some mistakes and I seized my chance. I didn’t let him feel comfortable at all.”
Axelsen gave credit to Wang for “playing great.”
“He deserved the win,” Axelsen said. “I have nothing much to say other than I’m surprised by my own level. It was not what I hoped, especially as I was happy to be back after a long time due to injuries.”
The Taiwanese was to face eighth seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the quarter-finals.
The Thai won last year’s BWF World Championships in Copenhagen and has won all five of his career matches against Wang.
Aside from Wang, Taiwanese ace Tai Tzu-ying and the men’s doubles duo Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan also advanced to the quarter-finals.
Tai was to play Aya Ohori of Japan in the women’s singles. She barely beat Ohori at the French Open in October last year and lost to her earlier that month at the Asian Games.
Lee and Yang, who won the German Open earlier this month, were to take on seventh seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia.
The French Open was moved to March from October this year to pave the way for the Olympic Games in Paris in July.
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