Olympic champion Carolina Marin’s bid for a second straight title in China came to an early end as she retired in the first round of the China Open yesterday against Tai Tzu Ying.
Marin – who beat Tai at an another China Open final in Changzhou in September just eight months after a serious injury – complained of fever and throat infection following her retirement from the match while trailing 21-16, 13-1.
World champion Pusarla V Sindhu was another high-profile casualty. The Indian lost her way at the end of a see-saw battle against Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po, who claimed one of the biggest victims of her career. Sindhu did well to bounce back from 3-11 in the decider to lead 18-15, but her opponent was equal to the occasion and claimed six of the last seven points to win the match in 74th minutes.
In other close women’s singles contests, Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung held off USA’s Beiwen Zhang 22-20, 19-21, 21-17, while Korea’s Kim Ga Eun recovered from a first game pasting to get past Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour 5-21, 21-12, 21-17. French Open champion An Se Young comfortably made the second round, beating Sayaka Takahashi 21-17, 21-16. There was a straightforward passage for Japan’s 2017 world champion Nozomi Okuhara, the fourth seed who beat China’s Chen Xiaoxin 21-16, 21-6.
French Open semi-finalist Anthony Ginting fell in rather tame fashion to Hong Kong China’s Ng Ka Long Angus, 21-18, 21-9. Ginting’s familiar rival and defending champion Kento Momota got through his opening challenge in lesser time than he might have anticipated as his opponent Liew Daren retired after the first game complaining of fever. Denmark’s seventh seed and 2017 world champion Viktor Axelsen made it through with a 21-15, 21-19 win over Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama. 
Others to progress in men’s singles included Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen and Rasmus Gemke at the expense of Khosit Phetpradab and HS Prannoy respectively.
The closest match of the day featured local pair He Ji Ting and Tan Qiang against Russia’s Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov. In a tense ending, He and Tan overcame four match points to clinch their second round spot with a 22-20, 13-21, 27-25 victory.
Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi have not cleared the first round in their last four tournaments after reaching the final of the BWF World Championships in August. Their run of poor form continued, as they crashed out of their fifth straight first round match; the Japanese falling to home duo Han Cheng Kai and Zhou Hao Dong 19-21, 21-16, 21-16. The tournament continues tomorrow with the remainder of the first-round clashes. (bwfworldtour.bwfbadminton.com)