PETALING JAYA: Denmark's world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen crashed out of the French Open after suffering a shock defeat to Taiwan's Wang Tzu-wei in the men's singles second round.
The reigning Olympic champion was far from his best and went down 12-21, 17-21 to the Taiwanese world No. 27 at the Adidas Arena in Paris on Thursday (March 7).
Axelsen had won all six of his past meetings with Tzu-wei but surprisingly fell 1-10 behind in the first game and never recovered.
The Dane was at a loss to explain what went wrong for him in the match.
"I don’t have many thoughts, it was really low level,” said Axelsen in a post match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
"All credit to Tzu-wei for playing great and he deserved the win. 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.
"For some reason I felt uncomfortable and couldn’t find my rhythm at all," added Axelsen.
Tzu-wei will take on Thailand's world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn next for a place in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, there was further joy for Taiwan when German Open champions Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan stunned China's world No. 3 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang 21-17, 21-23, 21-15 in the men's doubles.
World No. 16 Jhe-huei-Po-hsuan will face Indonesia's world No. 7 Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto in the last eight.
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