French Open 2023: Jonathan Christie Advances To Second Round

Indonesian men's singles, Jonatan Christie. (Photo: Twitter @INABadminton)

JAKARTA Jonathan Christie continued his journey to the second round of the French Open 2023 by defeating Kenta Nishimoto. Jonathan won two straight games, 21-11 and 21-19 at the Glaz Arena, Tuesday, October 24, 2023 evening WIB.

"Praise God, I must be happy because today I can really enjoy the match without any disturbing thoughts," said Jonathan after the match.

"It means a lot more than the win, actually. But I'm grateful that I was also given a win and hopefully it will get better in the next match," he added.

This is the 17th clash between the two players. In the previous 16 meetings, the men's singles had a equally strong winning-loss record, 8-8.

The last time they both met in the Hong Kong Open final last September. At that time, Jonathan managed to win after playing three games.

"Compared to the previous meeting in the final of the Hong Kong Open 2023, I took the initiative to attack, be more aggressive. And how to always pressure him," said Jonathan.

"In the second game after trailing 16-19 I felt he was indeed more aggressive but I didn't want to be careless, I tried to come back to take control of the game," he added.

Jonathan, who is the fifth seed at this year's French Open, is Indonesia's fifth representative to secure the second round of tickets.

Before him, the ticket for the second half was obtained by the women's doubles Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti, Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto, Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan, and Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto/Lisa AyuKusumawati.