Anticipation Around Axelsen, Marin Return – China Open Preview
The last Super 1000 event of the HSBC BWF World Tour season – the VICTOR China Open 2019 - will unfold in Changzhou this week. Here are the headliners and the match-ups to look forward to:
· DEV SUKUMAR
Two of the biggest names have been missing from the action over the last few months due to injuries. While Viktor Axelsen was nursing a back problem, Carolina Marin was recovering from an ACL injury sustained at the Indonesia Masters in January.
There will be feverish anticipation around the return of Axelsen in China, for with his Mandarin-speaking skills, he is almost a home favourite. The sixth seed is in the top quarter and begins his campaign against Kanta Tsuneyama. A second round against compatriot Jan O Jorgensen or Sittikom Thammasin, and a quarterfinal against world champion Kento Momota, are on the cards.
Carolina Marin has followed in Axelsen’s footsteps by attempting to learn Mandarin and is also quite popular in China, but more importantly for her, it will be an opportunity to test herself against the very best. The Spaniard made her comeback at the Vietnam Open where she fell in two close games to Thai youngster Supanida Katethong in the opening round. A difficult opening match in China looms ahead, for she faces World Championships runner-up Nozomi Okuhara in the second quarter. If she passes that test, it will be Gregoria Mariska Tunjung or Beiwen Zhang in the second round.