The 2019 Vietnam Open officially kick-started with the first round at Nguyen Du Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City on September 11. That evening, the no. 1 hope of the Vietnamese badminton Nguyen Tien Minh encountered Thomas Rouxel, who is currently ranked 48 in the world.
Although facing an opponent ranked 14 places above him, Tien Minh showed his experience and class as Rouxel could only cause trouble for the 36-year-old host player in the early stage of the first set. French 1991-born Rouxel led 4-1 then 6-3, before letting his rival score a series of six consecutive points. Minh played with high spirit and wrapped up the first set with a wide margin 21-10.
In set 2, the French played better but could not take the lead and Minh equalised 6-6. The host’s skilful performance forced Rouxel to try hard to defend. When the score was 18-18, Minh ran a riot of three wining points to finish the set at 21-18, thus wrapping up his 2-0 victory after 36 minutes.
Minh will next face Indonesian No. 8 seed Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in Round 2 later today. The world’s no. 57 was given a bye in the first round.
Minh’s teammate Nguyen Hai Dang, ranked 361st in the world, also left a mark on the first round. After going through two qualifying matches on September 10 to get into the main round, the 19-year-old continued to win 21-19, 21-19 against Lucas Claerbout, ranked 75th in the world, to enter the next round facing Hsueh Hsuan-yi of Chinese Taipei.
Meanwhile, Pham Cao Cuong and his female teammate Vu Thi Trang both had their first wins to progress to the second round. However, Nguyen Thuy Linh and mixed duo Do Tuan Duc/Pham Nhu Thao said goodbye to the tournament after losing to seeded players.
The 2019 Vietnam Open takes place from September 10 to 15 and has a total purse of US$75,000.
