Carolina Marin and Viktor Axelsen back to winning ways at French Open
Carolina Marin and Viktor Axelsen have bounced back from early exits at last week's Denmark Open to move into the second round in Paris while women's top seed Yamaguchi Akane, 2021 world champion Loh Kean Yew and Indonesia's Jonatan Christie also progress.
Badminton
Carolina Marin is back to her winning ways at the French Open in Paris.
After surprisingly crashing out in the round of 16 in last week's Denmark Open, the Rio 2016 Olympic badminton champion defeated China's Yi Man Zhang 21-18, 23-21 on Tuesday (25 October).
The three-time World Champion and six-time European Champion has been struggling to find her rhythm this year and is hoping that the French Open will be the turning point for the last part of this season.
Next up for the Spanish superstar is Beiwen Zhang (USA).
Japan's Yamaguchi Akane, seeded number one in women's singles, also progressed by beating Canada's Michelle Li 21-8, 21-14.
Meanwhile in men's singles, Viktor Axelsen beat Japan's Nishimoto Kenta 21-11, 22-20 to set up a meeting with the winner of Sitthikom Thammasin (Thailand) and Yu Qi Shi (China).
Top-seeded Dane Axelsen vowed to come back stronger after his 39-match unbeaten run ended in the Denmark Open last week when he lost 21-17, 21-10 to Singapore's Loh Kean Yew in the quarter-finals.
And he made good on his promise in his opening match in Paris.
2021 world champion Loh Kean Yew won 21-14, 21-17 against Mark Caljouw (France), Indonesia's Jonatan Christie also advanced after ousting Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus (Denmark) 21-19, 21-14.
Read more: Find out what happened on the final day at the Denmark Open.
Axelsen just had his second daughter. How did that change his outlook?