Chinese Taipei pair Liu Kuang Heng and Hsu Yin-hui produced one of the standout results at the China Masters, a BWF Super 750 tournament, defeating newly crowned world champions Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue in straight games on Wednesday.
SHENZHEN — Chinese Taipei pair Liu Kuang Heng and Hsu Yin-hui produced one of the standout results at the China Masters, a BWF Super 750 tournament, defeating newly crowned world champions Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue in straight games on Wednesday.
The world No. 48 mixed doubles combination prevailed 23-21, 21-10 in 38 minutes, overturning a late deficit in the opening game before dominating the second to send the French pair out of the tournament.
Liu/Hsu were trailing 19-17 in the first game but recovered to draw level, saved a game point and eventually secured the crucial opener 23-21. Having survived that tense finish, the pair returned in the second game with greater freedom and surged to a comprehensive 21-10 victory.
“Knowing they had just become world champions, we naturally really wanted to challenge them; we wanted to beat them even more,” Liu was quoted as saying by BWF.
Hsu pointed to their attacking approach and execution as the key factors behind their impressive performance against the reigning world champions.
“It was our offence; we did what we were supposed to and executed our game plan well. That gave us the platform to build on early on,” he added.
The dramatic turnaround in the opening game also changed the complexion of the contest, according to Liu, with the underdogs gaining confidence while the pressure increasingly fell on their opponents.
“The pressure was on them and our mood was good. It allowed us to continue sticking to our style, with even more confidence,” Liu stated.
The victory continues an encouraging run for Liu/Hsu, who captured the US Open title in late June before reaching the final of the Canada Open the following week. Their performances have highlighted the growing momentum behind the partnership.
Hsu said the improvement has come from refining important aspects of their game, particularly their coordination and the opening exchanges of rallies.
“The main reason is our communication and that we had set up our serves and receives well,” she said. “We’ve been working on them in training and it’s now showing results.”
For Gicquel and Delrue, meanwhile, the defeat brought an abrupt end to their first tournament appearance since being crowned world champions two Sundays earlier.
Gicquel acknowledged that the French pair lost their way after a promising beginning and struggled to maintain their usual approach as the match progressed.
“It wasn’t a good performance. The start was okay but then we got a bit stressed. We forgot to play and make them move,” Gicquel admitted.