COPENHAGEN, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Another day of first-round action at the Badminton Denmark Open 2019 saw Danish player Viktor Axelsen sweating for a place in the next round and the complete eradication of any Danish doubles teams in the second round on Wednesday.
Viktor Axelsen, ranked 7th, came up against Japan's Kenta Nishimoto ranked 14, in the men's singles in what was to be a closely contested first-round match where Dane was fortunate to determine victory in two sets.
Against Nishimoto, four match points were missed by Axelsen before he was able to ensure victory at 21-19, 21-19.
"I would have preferred to finish the match earlier. But I think Kenta played pretty well and is really sharp," Axelsen told TV 2 SPORT.
Other Danes did not fare so well on the second day of the tournament.
Denmark's two men's doubles pairs and one women's pair went out in the first round on Tuesday while the same fate befell the last two remaining Danish women's doubles pairs: Maiken Fruergaard and Sara Thygesen as well as Amalie Magelund and Freja Ravn.
Magelund and Ravn, despite getting a better grip on their match against the fourth-placed Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan from China were simply no match against the stronger Chinese duo who won the match with 21-16, 21-8.
In other matches, China's Chen Long defeated Malaysia's Zii Jia Lee in the men's singles in three sets: 21-18, 15-21, 21-16.
In the women's singles, both Cai Yanyan and Chen Yufei from China defeated their respective opponents in two sets.
In mixed doubles, He Jiting and Du Yue from China overcame Chris and Gabrielle Adcock from England in a tight and taxing encounter 18-21, 21-17 and 21-18.
