Twice before, the mixed doubles pair had reached an All England quarterfinal, but both times, that was the end of the road.
Today, it looked like the outcome might finally be different as they faced the 7th-seeded Goh/Chen in a match that swung back and forth. The Chinese pair came out firing, quickly taking a 7-2 lead, but the French duo found their rhythm and turned the set around to a comfortable 21-14 win.
In the second set, the pairs stayed close until 8-7, when Goh/Chen pulled away to 15-7. Gicquel and Delrue couldn’t find an answer to the fast-paced Chinese attack, and the set ended 21-10 in favor of Goh/Chen.
The third set saw the French pair trailing throughout — never falling far behind, but never quite catching up either. They finally leveled the score at 15-15 and again at 17-17, but they never managed to take the lead. A few unfortunate mistakes at the end sealed the match for the Chinese pair, 21-17.
After the match, we spoke to a disappointed Gicquel and Delrue:
Thom Gicquel:
"We could have done better in this match. I think we had good tactics in the first set, but then I started playing too much like in women’s doubles, just lifting. I don’t know what happened in my brain."
Despite trailing for most of the third set, the pair never lost faith in a comeback:
Delphine Delrue:
"We always believed we could come back — and we did. But when you’re down by four points and finally equalize, it’s even harder to get the extra point to take the lead. I think in the end we could have done better, so it’s a bit disappointing."
However, the pair are already looking ahead to their next challenge: defending their title at the European Championships in Horsens this April.
The next European chance to reach the semifinals lies with Greg and Jenny Mairs, who have stunned the badminton world by making it to the quarterfinals in their final tournament. They’ll take the court as the third match on Court 1, facing South Korea’s Lee/Chae.