Back on Track! – China Open: Day 1
Olympic champion Carolina Marin hit the high notes in only her second match of her comeback from injury, beating World Championships runner-up Nozomi Okuhara at the VICTOR China Open 2019 today.
· DEV SUKUMAR
The Spaniard trailed 5-9 in the opening game but after she caught up, she never looked back. The 21-16 21-18 victory was achieved in 46 minutes and will give her a huge boost of confidence.
Another returning star however could not vault over his opening hurdle. Viktor Axelsen, who made his comeback after recovering from a back injury, was outplayed in three games by Kanta Tsuneyama, 10-21 21-14 21-16 in 62 minutes.
The big upset of the day was the loss of Okuhara’s compatriot Akane Yamaguchi to Russia’s Evgeniya Kosetskaya. The top seed from Japan was involved in a tense struggle with Kosetskaya, who did well to bounce back from a close first game loss to take the second.