The German Open returned after three years yesterday and the heavyweights had little trouble moving past their first round opponents at the tournament which marked the resumption of the HSBC BWF World Tour 2022 following a one-month pause.

The top seeds in action – Viktor Axelsen, Tai Tzu Ying and Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai – had a relatively easy time on the court, all completing their first matches of 2022 under 33 minutes at YONEX GAINWARD German Open 2022.

Olympic gold medallist and world No.1 Axelsen got his season off to a winning start with a 21-11 21-14 result against local hope Max Weisskirchen.

World champions Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai picked up from where they left off, beating Sai Pratheek.k/Reddy N. Sikki 21-19 21-8 to bag their 29th consecutive victory since losing in the French Open semifinals in October.

Women’s singles world No.1 Tai meanwhile, took 32 minutes to end the challenge of Iris Wang 21-11 21-15.

Her rival for the women’s singles title, seventh seed Pusarla V. Sindhu was in fiery form, emphatically dispatching Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-8 21-7.

Seeds out

• Ng Ka Long Angus’ tournament only lasted 40 minutes as the men’s singles seventh seed lost 21-14 21-19 to India’s Prannoy H. S..
• The biggest upset of the day saw mixed doubles eighth seeds Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai suffer a 21-14 13-21 12-21 defeat to world No.48 Callum Hemming/Jessica Pugh.

NOTEWORTHY:

• Two-time world champion Zheng Si Wei’s new partnership with Zhang Shu Xian had a debut to forget as the Chinese went down 21-19 21-17 to home pair Jones Ralfy Jansen/Linda Efler.

→ Day 1 Results

→ Day 2 Order of Play