by Ian Marshall, Editor
Listed at no.44 in the order of merit, Martin Friis and Christina Källberg accounted for Hong Kong’s Maurice Kai Chong and Chau Wing Sze, the no.32 seeds (11-5, 11-4, 12-10), before reserving their third round place courtesy of success in opposition to Singapore’s Pang Yew En Koen and Goi Rui Xuan, the no.16 seeds (11-3, 11-9, 11-9).
Not one game surrendered, it was a very imposing performance; for Laurens Devos and Aleksandra Vovk, the efforts made were also most impressive but experiences slightly more exacting. Named no.36 in the ranked order, they beat Chinese Taipei’s Li Hsin-Yang and Chen Ting-Ting, the no.10 seeds, in four games (11-9, 11-13, 12-10, 11-8), prior to recording the same margin of victory when facing India’s Manush Utpalbhai Shah and Selena Selvakumar, the no.26 seeds (3-11, 11-6, 13-11, 11-9).
Two surprise pairs through to the third round of the Mixed Doubles event; according to status but no great upset, China’s Xu Haidong and Guo Yuhan, the no.30 seeds, booked their place amongst the top 16 pairs. After accounting for Lilian Bardet and Isa Cok of France, the no.44 rated pair (11-9, 11-6, 11-7) as expected, they upset the order of merit by ousting Japan’s Shunsuke Togami and Yumeno Soma, the no.13 seeds (11-5, 10-12, 11-4, 11-9).
Testing times for notable pairs; for the leading outfits in the top half of the Mixed Doubles draw, there were no such travails.
Ioannis Sgouropoulos and Sabina Surjan accounted for Singapore’s Gerald Yu Zong Jun and Zhou Jingyi (9-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-7), before overcoming India’s Jeet Chandra and Swastika Ghosh (10-12, 13-11, 12-10, 11-4), the somewhat surprise opening round winners in opposition to Poland’s Samuel Kulczycki and Anna Wegrzyn, the no.18 seeds (11-6, 5-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-9).
Moments of concern for Ioannis Sgouropoulos and Sabina Surjan; for Yu Heyi and Qian Tianyi, no such concerns; they overcame Romania’s Cristian Chirita and Elena Zaharia (11-7, 11-2, 11-6), before ending the hopes of Italy’s Carlo Rossi and Jamila Laurenti, the no.27 seeds (11-7, 11-1, 11-6).
Noteworthy performances, it was the same from Romania’s Cristian Pletea and Andreea Dragoman, the no.5 seeds, as it was from Japan’s Yukiya Uda and Miyuu Kihara, the no.8 seeds.
Cristian Pletea and Andreea Dragoman accounted for the combination of Singapore’s Dominic Koh Song Jun and Hong Kong’s Ng Wing Lam (11-5, 14-12, 11-8), before overcoming Chinese Taipei’s Tai Ming-Wei and Wen Rue-Ling, the no.24 seeds (11-5, 11-3, 11-7).
Similarly, Yukiya Uda and Miyuu Kihara beat Germany’s Cédric Meissner and Franziska Schreiner (11-3, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4), before ousting Russia’s Artem Dvoynikov and Ekaterina Zironova (13-11, 11-6, 11-7), the somewhat surprise first round winners in opposition to Argentina’s Santiago Lorenzo and Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz, the no.19 seeds (11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6).
The third round and quarter-finals of the Mixed Doubles event will be played on Saturday 8th December.
