The Swiss Open 2021 champions, Gicquel/ Delrue, were hoping to lead the European charge towards the All England title but were made to work hard today to reach the quarterfinals.
Looking back at last year’s All England when the French pair were knocked out by Indonesia’s Hafiz Faizal/ Gloria Widjaja in the second round, this result may seem like a success. However, Gicquel/ Delrue have high expectations.
Since then, the European Games bronze medallists have defeated the world’s top pairs, reached the semifinal of the Thailand Open and World Tour Finals, and recently won the Swiss Open. Today’s opponents, Chen Tang Wei/ Peck Yen Wei, were dealt with in just 32 minutes in Basel, however, it was a very different match this time around.
-It was not an easy game. We did not perform very well today. We struggled with our game and we tried to stay calm and focused to play our best, but it was not very good today. In the third we served well to get into their [Chen/ Peck]'s minds, so we had a lot of easy points. We were more relaxed after a lead, explained Gicquel.
Tiredness
We have seen the French combination finish strongly before, and despite not wanting to do that today, they were able to get the win, 21-19 20-22 21-14.
-I'm just tired. Last night we played at midnight and today for an hour and it was not a good match. We are really happy to reach our first quarterfinal at the All England Open, Delrue stated.
-We'll be really happy in 10 minutes, Gicquel added.
Gicquel/ Delrue now will play the top Malaysian pair in the form of number three seeds, Chan Peng Soon/ Goh Liu Ying. They are yet to win a game against the Olympic silver medallists, but fans know that they are a completely different prospect in 2021.