Day two at the Yonex German Open saw the introduction of all the big hitters in the women’s singles. At one point on court the packed house had two Olympic champions plus a host of heaving hitting super series winners to wet their appetite.
While all the eyes of the public were justifiably centred on players such as Wang Yihan and Li Xuerui on the outside court number 4, French beauty Sashina Vignes Waran (pictured) was creating the biggest upset of the days play.
Vignes Waran has been making steady progress over the past twelve months which culminated in her winning the Belgian International at the beginning of this season. It was time for the Strasbourg based player to step up a level and today she did just that against world number 22 Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria.
The French girl lost the first set after holding one game point. That would have been enough to break many player especially against a player of the quality of Nedelcheva, however Vignes Waran came storming back and followed a second set win with a 21-15 win in the third to advance to a mouth-watering tie with Juliane Schenk of Germany.
"This has been the biggest win of my career to date" said a delighted Vignes Waren exclusively to Badminton Europe after her victory.
"My fitness told in the end and I can now go into tomorrow’s match with no pressure as Schenk will be favourite"
To listen to Sashina Vignes Waran’s full post match interview log onto Badminton Europe’s You tube channel of click HERE
In the most emotional match of the days play Oliver Roth ended his international badminton career in front of his home crowd in a two set defeat to Chinese youngsters Liu Xiaolong and Qui Zihan. The likable German was given a standing ovation by the home crowd as he left the court but ever the professional he was unhappy with the performance
"The match was bad and it was a bad way to end but I have great memories alongside Fuchsy (Michael Fuchs) with our silver medal at the Europeans last year being the highlight
To watch Roth’s and Fuchs full post match interview click HERE
Elsewhere Andy Ellis and Chris Adcock had to come through an immense battle against Indonesian opposition eventually prevailing 27-25 in the deciding set. Adcock made it a double victory alongside fiancé Gabby White in the mixed doubles after benefiting from a promotion to the main draw at the last minute.
"We were blessed with out promotion to the main draw and then the draw itself was as kind as it could have been for us. The game itself was good in parts and we suffered a bit with a lapse in concentration and important points but we are glad to be in the next round" said Adcock to Badminton Europe.
In the very final match of the days play which ran until almost 11pm, Spain’s Carolina Marin came out the wrong side of a three set battle with Japan’s Eriko Hirose. In a match that extended to 1 hour 18 minutes there was never more than three points between the players as the number 8 seeded Japanese saved game and match points to make it through on a score line of 19-21 22-20 24-22.
For all the days results click HERE
For a full Facebook photo gallery click HERE
Article and Images by Mark Phelan (Live in Mülheim)