In a surprising turn of events at the French Open, Denmark’s world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen was eliminated after a shocking defeat to Taiwan’s Wang Tzu-wei in the men’s singles second round. The reigning Olympic champion struggled throughout the match and lost 12-21, 17-21 to the Taiwanese world No. 27 at the Adidas Arena in Paris on Thursday (March 7).
Axelsen, who had previously won all six of his encounters with Tzu-wei, found himself trailing 1-10 in the first game and was unable to recover from the early deficit. The Dane expressed his disappointment in a post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF), admitting, “I don’t have many thoughts, it was really low level.” He credited Tzu-wei for his strong performance and acknowledged that he was surprised by his own subpar play.
Reflecting on his performance, Axelsen added, “It was not what I hoped, especially as I was happy to be back after a long time due to injuries. For some reason I felt uncomfortable and couldn’t find my rhythm at all.” Tzu-wei will now face Thailand’s world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the next round with a chance to advance to the semi-finals.
On another note, Taiwan continued to excel in the tournament as German Open champions Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan pulled off a major upset by defeating China’s world No. 3 Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang 21-17, 21-23, 21-15 in the men’s doubles. The duo, ranked 16th in the world, will now face Indonesia’s world No. 7 pair Fajar Alfian and Rian Ardianto in the quarter-finals.
