PETALING JAYA: Newly crowned mixed doubles world champions Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue became the latest big-name casualties at the China Masters after suffering a shock first round defeat in Shenzhen on Wednesday (Sept 2).
The French pair, who recently made history as their country’s first mixed doubles world champions, went down 21-23, 10-21 to Taiwan’s world No. 48 Liu Kuang-heng-Hsu Yin-hui in just 38 minutes at the Shenzhen Arena.
Gicquel-Delrue, the fourth seeds and world No. 5, had looked in control for much of the opening game but allowed Kuang-heng-Yin-hui back into the contest before the Taiwanese pair took charge.
“It wasn’t a good performance,” Gicquel told BWF after the match.
“The start was okay but then we got a bit stressed. We forgot to play and make them move.
For Kuang-heng and Yin-hui, knocking out the newly crowned world champions made the victory even sweeter.
“Knowing they had just become world champions, we really wanted to challenge them. We wanted to beat them even more,” said Kuang-heng.
Yin-hui said their attacking approach and ability to stick to their game plan proved decisive.
“It was our offence. We did what we were supposed to and executed our game plan well. That gave us the platform to build on early,” she said.
The Taiwanese pair will take on India’s Dhruv Kapila-Tanisha Crasto today for a place in the quarter-finals.
The tournament has already seen several early upsets, with home favourite Shi Yuqi among the casualties in the men’s singles.
Yuqi was sent packing after going down 11-21, 10-21 to Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew.
World No. 1 men’s doubles pair Kim Won-ho-Seo Seung-jae also suffered an early exit after losing 19-21, 19-21 to Indonesia’s Leo Rolly-Daniel Marthin in the first round.
