2012 French Open: A main round entry for Guo Zhendong, Xu Chen in Men’s Doubles event
Men’s Doubles partners Guo Zhendong and Xu Chen forged a fruitful chemistry and raised China’s chances to rule the Yonex French Badminton Open after making into the main round on October 23, 2012.
They outshined Alvent Yulianto Chandra-Markis Kido of Indonesia in their final match of the qualifying round.
This 33-minute battle was staged at the local arena of Paris and both teams entertained the crowd with a splendid show of skills while registering the decisive figures of 21-13 and 21-18.
The Indonesian campaigners, who were favourites for this encounter, disappointed their supporters by putting a below par performance.
Meanwhile, the victorious shuttlers showed superb coordination and sealed a straight-set victory in a commendable manner.
Xu Chen and Guo Zhendong set the foundation of their supremacy straight away in the beginning of the first set.
They dominated in three establishing rallies and then made best out of this initial advantage to place a decent total of 7.
Though, next couple of rallies saw them making some fatal mistakes but still the Chinese shuttlers did not allow the opposing team to gain control of the game.
They strengthened their grip with three consecutive points immediately after the break and maintained the upper hand all the way to the final moments.
Alvent Yulianto and Markis Kido strived hard to narrow the gap but they had to give up that futile chase after reading 13-21 score on the board.
The following game was filled with great drama as it kept swinging between both contenders until last shot was played.
Initially, the Indonesian campaigners were in strong position and it was felt that they will survive this crucial segment of the showdown but the twosome of Xu Chen and Guo Zhendong turned the tables with a staggering knock.
The Chinese players lost focus in first half of the set which resulted in 11-10 margin before the interval.
They gathered some pace in third quarter of set and locked the honour with an overwhelming figure of 21-18.
Now they will be up against the higher ranked compatriot duo Wei Hong-Ye Shen in main round of this Super Series.
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