Liu and Miyu roll on

Chinese Liu Weishan and Japan’s Miyu Kato were in top gear in their first matches of the 2019 Australian Open, recording swift victories in around 30 minutes.

Up against Singaporean Yu Mengyu, Liu was relentless and took the match 4:0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-3, 11-5). For Miyu, it was the host nation’s Jee Minhyung who could not handle Miyu’s speed of serve in another straight games win (11-9, 11-7, 11-9, 11-4).

European and Asian derbies end the same

There were early continental domestic battles involved here in Geelong, as Indian Madhurika Patkar lost out to Hong Kong’s Ng Wing Kam in a one sided match (8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8, 12-10).

Europe had it’s own derby with Austrian Yui Hamamoto seeing off Czech Dana Cechova in five games (11-5, 11-5, 11-7, 9-11, 11-1). Despite the best efforts of Dana, Yui had to sweat little in a match that lasted less than 30 minutes. In other news, Portuguese Yu Fu had to withdraw because of injury, sending her Japanese opponent Shiho Matsudaira through to the next round.

Lind and Cho advance

Coming off the back of a rather impressive Korea Open, Danish Anders Lind had to channel his previous best in taking down Huang Chien-Tu of Chinese Taipei in seven games (11-5, 6-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8).

Korean Cho Seungmin had a much smoother qualification, defeating Hong Kong’s Kwan Man Ho in five, taking Cho no longer than 36 minutes (11-4, 11-8, 10-12, 11-5, 11-9).

Chinese duo impress

China’s Xue Fei and Sun Wen both impressed in their opening preliminary round men’s singles matches when facing formidable Japanese opposition.

Xue Fei beat Shunsuke Togami (11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 11-6, 5-11, 6-11, 11-6); Sun Wen accounted for Takuya Jin (3-11, 7-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8).

Don’t be confused

The host nation’s Ma Lin experienced defeat in the opening preliminary round of the men’s singles event; he was beaten by Thailand’s Supanut Wisutmaythangkoon (11-4, 11-7, 13-11, 11-6)

No, Ma Lin, the Beijing 2008 Olympic champion, has not suddenly picked up his racket and emigrated to Australia; the player in question is a para athlete who alongside Lei Lina and Yang Qian has moved down under. However, like his namesake he has enjoyed major success; he won men’s singles class 9 at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

 First round defeats for para pair

Recently moved to Australia, highly successful at para tournaments, both Lei Lina and Yang Qian experienced first preliminary round women’s singles defeat. Lei Lina was beaten by Korea Republic’s Shin Yubin (11-2, 11-6, 11-2, 11-2); Yang Qian suffered at the hands of Audrey Zarif from France (11-5, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-4).

Born in Sichuan, most notably at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, Lei Lina won class 9 gold; in London four years later she successfully defended her title. Meanwhile, Yang Qian, a class 10 athlete, succeeded at the Asian Games in both 2010 and 2014.

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