World champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan overcame a difficult opening challenge to progress to the second round of the Fuzhou China Open 2019 today.

The Indonesians were involved in a cracker of a match against Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin, who fought every inch of the way in the first two games and saved two match points before eventually going down 27-25 22-24 21-17 in 56 minutes.

Ahsan and Setiawan next face China’s Ou Xuan Yi and veteran Zhang Nan in the second round.

It was also a challenging first round for third seeds Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen, who overcame Korea’s Choi Solgyu/Seo Seung Jae 21-19 19-21 21-15.

Nehwal, Yamaguchi Upset

Women’s singles second seed Akane Yamaguchi’s recent troubles continued, as she crashed out of the first round for the fourth time in the last five tournaments. Yamaguchi battled hard against Malaysia’s Soniia Cheah in the opening game but then faded away in the second, 21-19 21-16.

Another seeded casualty was Saina Nehwal; the eighth-seeded Indian going down to China’s Cai Yan Yan in just 24 minutes, 21-9 21-12.

Women’s doubles sixth seeds Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu’s downturn in form continued, as the Indonesians crashed out to Malaysia’s Chow Mei Kuan/Lee Meng Yean 21-19 21-16.

Talking Point

“We under-performed. It’s very disappointing and far from our expectations,” said Polii. “We will have to make an effort to improve ourselves, we’ll see in the next three months. Hopefully we can overcome our situation.”

Other Results

• Mixed doubles eighth seeds Marcus Ellis/Lauren Smith lost a close battle to Malaysia’s Goh Soon Huat/Lai Shevon Jemie 21-18 21-19.
• Sunday’s Macau Open champion Sitthikom Thammasin couldn’t pose much of a challenge to India’s Parupalli Kashyap, going down 21-14 21-13.
• In the battle between two stars coming back from injury, local hero Shi Yu Qi triumphed over Korea’s Son Wan Ho, 21-17 21-17.

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