Sets won and great vibes for Switzerland

On Wednesday at the Swiss Open, as so often before, several Swiss athletes were in the main draw thanks to a wild card. But as in previous years, the baseline was clear: on average, the Swiss badminton stars are more than 100 places behind their opponents in the world rankings. Still - despite this huge difference, there were some small successes to report with two sets won:

Switzerland's Dounia PELUPESSY (world no. 136) played a strong first set against Denmark's Line CHRISTOPHERSEN, winning it 21-19. In the second set, Pelupessy was less successful despite loud support from the crowd and lost 12-21. In the third set, the 23-year-old fought bravely and was able to keep up with the Dane for long stretches, but in the end it was not enough and she lost the decisive set 16-21. 'Losing so narrowly is tough', Pelupessy told Swiss Badminton after the match, 'but Christophersen is the world number 20 after all'.

In the mixed doubles, siblings Nicolas FRANCONVILLE and Julie FRANCONVILLE (world no. 124) faced Taiwanese pair LIU Kuang Heng and JHENG Yu Chieh (world no. 42). Unfortunately, in this face-off the balance of power was obvious – the Taiwanese pair didn't give their opponents a chance, winning 21-13, 21-4 against the Franconvilles.

Things went a little better for Julien SCHEIWILLER (SUI) (150) from St. Gallen, who took on Japanese player Yushi TANAKA. The outcome of this match also seemed clear based on the rankings: Scheiwiller is ranked 150th in the world, his opponent 20th. However, the Swiss player did not miss the opportunity to benefit from the great atmosphere in the St. Jakobshalle and demanded everything from the Japanese player. After a hard fight, Scheiwiller won the first set 22-20. In the second and third sets, he unfortunately suffered a similar fate to his compatriot Pelupessy: Tanaka once again brought out all his skills and won the second and third sets clearly with 21-10, 21-11.

Image: Julien Scheiwiller