Rio Olympics champion Chen Long of China made a winning start in his first competition after the Rio Olympics in August and got an easy ride into the second round in the USD700,000 Thaihot China Open Superseries Premier in Fuzhou on Wednesday.
The second seeded Chen Long was on court for only 13 minutes in his first round match against Tommy Sugiarto before the Indonesian retired injured. Chen Long leading 17-5 in the first set.
Chen Long, a three-time winner of the China Open, will square up against compatriot and French Open champion Shi Yuqi who beat qualifier and teammate Zhao Jun Peng 21-14, 21-19 in 40 minutes.
With top seed Lee Chong Wei withdrawing from the China Open with a hamstring injury, Malaysia's No 2 Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin is the country's hope but the Malaysian, however, had to come back from a set down to beat Taiwan's Lin Yu Hsien 19-21, 21-15, 21-11 in an hour-long match.
His next opponent is Chinese qualifier Guo Kai who came through with a 21-14, 11-21, 21-5 win over Japan's Kazumasa Sakai.
Rio Olympics bronze medal winner and No 3 seed Viktor Axelsen struggled to a 21-17, 14-21, 21-13 win over Chinese youngster Xue Song. Newly crowned Denmark Open champion Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand suffered a surprise first round exit – made all the more painful for the Thai because he lost to Japan's Takuma Ueda who was promoted from the qualifying rounds. The Japanese won 21-14, 21-13 in 43 minutes.
Hong Kong's Wei Nan upset No 6 seed Son Wan-ho of Korea 21-16, 21-23, 21-15 after a titanic 78-minute battle. Another marathon match saw No 5 seed Tian Houwei edge Taiwan's Hsu Jen Hao 21-8, 21-19 in 63 minutes.
New World No 1 men's doubles pair Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia fell to an embarassing first round defeat at the hands of China's new pair Liu Cheng-Zhang Nan. The Chinese came back from a first set deficit to win 19-21, 21-16, 24-22 in a marathon 75 minutes.
The Malaysians won their first ever Superseries title by winning the Denmark Open.
Malaysian privateers Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong also fell by the wayside when they to lost to fifth seeds Mads Conrad-Petersen-Mads Pieler Kolding of Denmark 21-19, 17-21, 13-21.
China's top seeds Chai Biao-Hong Wei cleared the first hurdle after a tough match against Japan's Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe before winning 24-22, 19-21, 21-13. However, No 3 seeds Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen failed to make the second round after a 17-21, 15-21 defeat to Japan's Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi.
FIRST ROUND RESULTS (SELECTED)
Men's singles
Rajiv Ouseph (Eng) beat Huang Yuxiang (Chn) 24-22, 21-18
Viktor Axelsen (Den) beat Xue Song (Chn) 21-17, 14-21, 21-13
Takuma Ueda (Jpn) beat Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (Tha) 21-14, 21-13
Ajay Jayaram (Ind) beat Zhu Shyan (Chn) 21-19, 20-22, 21-17///
Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin (Mas) beat Lin Yu Hsien (Tpe) 19-21, 21-15, 21-11
H. S. Prannoy (Ind) beat Angus Ng Ka Long (Hkg) 21-13, 21-13
Qiao Bin (Chn) beat Chou Tien Chen (Tpe) 21-11, 21-13
Chen Long (Chn) beat Tommy Sugiarto (Ina) 17-5 (Rtd)
Guo Kai (Chn) beat Kazumasa Sakai (Jpn) 21-14, 11-21, 21-5
Tian Houwei (Chn) beat Hsu Jen Hao (Tpe) 21-18, 21-19
Wei Nan (Hkg) beat Son Wan-ho (Kor) 21-16, 21-23, 21-15
Jan O Jorgensen (Den) beat Wang Tzu Wei (Tpe) 21-18, 21-14
Vincent Wong Wing Ki (Hkg) beat Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Ina) 21-15, 21-8
Marc Zwiebler (Ger) beat B. Sai Praneeth (Ind) 21-16, 21-9
Hu Yun (Hkg) beat Zulfadli Zulkifli (Mas) 21-18, 21-19
Shi Yuqi (Chn) beat Zhao Ju Peng (Chn) 21-14, 21-19
Men's doubles
Mads Conrad-Petersen-Mads Pieler Kolding (Den) beat Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (Mas) 19-21, 21-17, 21-13
Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (Ina) Kim Jae-hwan-Yoo Yeon-seong (Kor) 21-18, 23-21
Chai Biao-Hong Wei (Chn) beat Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe (Jpn) 24-22, 19-21, 21-13
Or Chin Chung-Tang Chun Man (Chn) beat Takuto Inoue-Yuki Kaneko (Jpn) 21-18, 13-21, 21-12
Liu Cheng-Zhang Nan (Chn) beat Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong (Mas) 19-21, 21-16, 24-22
Lee Jhe Huei-Lee Yang (Tpe) beat Berry Angriawan-Hendra Setiawan (Ina) 21-19, 21-14
Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen (Den) beat Liao Kuan Hao-Lu Chia Pin (Tpe) 21-10, 20-22, 21-10
Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) beat Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen (Chn) 21-17, 21-15
Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Den) beat Vladimir Ivanov-Ivan Sozonov (Rus) 19-21, 23-21, 24-22
Women's singles
Zhang Beiwen (USA) beat Hsu Ya Ching (Tpe) 21-16, 21-18
Line Kjaersfeldt (Den) beat Chen Xiaolin (Chn) 21-18, 21-15
Carolina Marin (Spn) beat Ji Shuting (Chn) 21-18, 21-15
Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (Tha) beat Saina Nehwal (Ind) 21-16, 19-21, 21-14
P.V. Sindhu (Ind) beat Lee Chia Hsin (Tpe) 21-12, 21-16
Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) 4-0 (rtd)
Sun Yu (Chn) beat Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Tha) 21-10, 21-18
He Bingjiao (Chn) beat Zhang Yiman (Chn) 20-22, 21-17, 21-19
Shen Ya Ying (Chn) beat Hui Xirui (Chn) 21-19, 14-21, 21-16
Yip Pui Yin (Hkg) beat Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn) 11-6 (rtd)
Tai Tzu Ying (Tpe) beat Aya Ohori (Jpn) 21-17, 24-26, 21-10
Minatsu Mithani (Jpn) beat Gao Fangjie (Chn) 21-17, 21-11
Chen Yufei (Chn) beat Peng Qin (Chn) 21-16, 21-12
Sayaka Sato beat Linda Zetchiri (Bul) 21-14, 21-13
Women's doubles
Anggia Shitta Awanda-Mahadewi Istirani Ni Ketut (Ina) beat Chen Su Yu-Tang Wan Yi (Tpe) 21-12, 21-12
Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei (Mas) beat Lin Xao Min-Wu Fang Chien (Tpe) 21-8, 21-10
Huang Dongpin-Li Yunhui (Chn) beat Chiang Kai Hsin-Hung Shih Han (Tpe) 21-16, 21-17
Gabriela Stoeva-Stefani Stoeva (Bul walkover Bao Yixin-Yu Xiaolin (Chn)
Hsu Ya Ching-Wu Ti Jung (Tpe) beat Chen Lu-Ou Dongni (Chn) 18-21, 21-11, 21-16
Shiho Tanaka-Koharu Yonemoto (Jpn) beat Chen Qingchen-Jia Yufan (Chn) 21-19, 9-21, 21-17
