After three straight defeats without taking a game, Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue finally repeated their 2020 win over Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai, toppling the DAIHATSU Indonesia Masters 2022 top seeds 21-19 21-16.

“I’m feeling so emotional right now,” revealed an animated Gicquel.

“I used the feeling of when we defeated them at the Indonesia Masters in 2020. We knew we could win here, and we did that. We played perfectly, we did it at last. It was a great match.”

Delrue concurred with her partner that everything went to plan for their opening match.

“We went in as we do for each match, don’t play with too much power, and be prepared for the next shot.”

Asked what the victory does for their confidence, a delighted Delrue said: “A lot. This is an amazing feeling to defeat the world champions. It doesn’t get better than this. This is an amazing wave to ride, but there’s still work to do for the next round. The crowd really helped. It’s not often we get to play in front of such passionate fans. We loved it.”

Taerattanachai was gracious in defeat: “They played well. We made too many mistakes. There are lots of things to work on for the Indonesia Open next week.”

The French pair face Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra BØje, who overcame Malaysians Choong Hon Jian/Peck Yen Wei 21-13 11-21 21-19 in a little past the hour mark.

Beiwen Zhang ousted Indian youngster Aakarshi Kashyap 21-12 21-11. The Nevada-based player is slowly returning to form since recovering from an Achilles tear at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“Actually, I didn’t really expect anything because I’m adjusting my body. It’s pretty great news that I can feel my calf. And then I can push off from the court,” she said.

“I was laughing to myself because after jumping, I was also shaking, but at the same time, I knew I was feeling okay. I wasn’t expecting an easy game from Kashyap. I’m so happy to be back playing.”

NOTEWORTHY:

♦ Heo Kwang Hee advanced to the second round after Anders Antonsen withdrew.

♦ Michelle Li was defeated by Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-12 17-21 21-14 for the first time since 2014.

♦ Home favourite Jonatan Christie suffered a disappointing loss to Zhao Jun Peng 10-21 21-14 21-11.

→ Results (Day 2)

→ Order of Play (Day 3)