Good start: Chen Tang Jie (right) and Toh Ee Wei beat fellow Malaysians Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing 21-15, 21-18 in their opening match at the Adidas Arena in Paris yesterday.
PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei face a stiff challenge against China’s world No. 4 Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping in the second round of the French Open today.
The world No. 9 got off to a good start in the tournament by beating fellow Malaysians Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing 21-15, 21-18 in their opening match at the Adidas Arena in Paris yesterday.
It was Tang Jie-Ee Wei’s second win over the world No. 25 independent pair after also coming out on top in the Malaysian Open last year.
Tang Jie was pleased to get past the tricky challenge.
“It’s always hard to play against our own teammates. But when we enter the court, we want to win,” said Tang Jie in a post match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF) yesterday.
“When Kian Meng-Pei Jing were leading in the second game, we kept figuring out how to get back our rhythm.
“We are really happy that we could get a good start.”
Tang Jie-Ee Wei are now bracing themselves for the tough task against Yanzhe-Dongping.
Based on the head-to-head records, both pairs are evenly matched after winning a match each in their past two meetings in international competitions.
Tang Jie-Ee Wei stunned the Chinese duo in the Thailand Open last year but the latter triumphed in the season-ending World Tour Finals.
On the match against Yanzhe-Dongping, Ee Wei said: “We want to give them a good fight. I trust my partner and my coach to come up with a plan to play against them.”
Meanwhile, independent pair and world No. 14 Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie suffered an early exit after losing out 19-21, 16-21 to world No. 13 homesters Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue.
A disappointed Shevon told BWF: “We were caught off guard a bit during the match and could not get our rhythm and momentum back.
“We wasted a good opportunity to win as we avoided a seeded pair.”
