After the elimination the day before of the Mulhouse pair Margot Lambert/Camille Pognante in the women’s doubles, only one of the two Alsatians competing this Wednesday at the Japan Masters (Super 500 of the World Tour) in Kumamoto “survived” at 1is tour.
The other Mulhouseian Thom Gicquel and his Camblysian partner Delphine Delrue, 22es world mixed, qualified for the round of 16 by beating the Taiwanese Liu Kuang Heng and Jheng Yu Chieh quite clearly in two rounds, 119es (21-15, 21-12), even if the first set was held until 15-14.
The 2024 European champions will take on the Chinese Chen Xing and Zhang Chi this Thursday, seeded nos. 4 and 12es against whom they only played – and lost – one match: on March 30 in the semi-final of the Spanish Masters (21-10, 19-21, 19-21).
It’s over, however, for Alex Lanier, 16e global singles player. The Strasbourg resident, who became at the end of August in Yokohama the first Frenchman and the youngest player in history to win a Super 750, on his return to the Land of the Rising Sun, came up against an opponent whom he had also only met ‘once, for a 14-21, 14-21 defeat at the men’s team worlds in 2022: the Chinese Li Shi Feng, 9th and seeded 7, winner this time in three sets (19-21, 21-6, 21-13). The Normand from ASPTTS nevertheless led 9-8 in the decisive round.
