Quarter Finals French Open 2023: Jonatan Christie Silences Naraoka Two Direct Sets

JAKARTA - Indonesian men's singles Jonatan Christie, won victory from Kodai Naraoka in the French Open 2023 quarter-final match, which was a repeat match from last year's edition in Rennes.

In the match which became the closing match on Friday night Rennes time, Jonathan, who is familiarly called Jojo, won two straight games 21-8, 25-23 from the badminton player from Japan.

"My last meeting with Kodai took place a year ago. In the same tournament, in the same round. At that time the match was not over because I was injured," said Jonathan about the match, through an official PP PBSI message in Jakarta, Saturday.

In fact, this bad record did not affect the mentality of the fifth seed when he returned to meet with Kodai, who is now the third seed.

In fact, he admitted that he tended to forget the match process at the French Open last year. Therefore, he can appear burdenless and win the semifinals of the tournament in the BWF Super 750 category.

"And Praise God today feels that playing is quite good. It can be calmer, does not follow the tempo of the opponent's game," said Jonathan.

In today's match, Jonathan created a landslide advantage in the first game. According to the 2023 Indonesia Masters champion, Kodai made too many mistakes himself in the opening game, thus benefiting Jonatan's points.

Only in the second game, Kodai began to find the form of his best game.

Jonathan had taken the lead at the beginning of the game, but there was a chase for points before the interval.

Even at the end of the game, there was a demand and again the points of the two of them chasing each other.

"In the second game he started to get his rhythm but I tried to keep the ball away from him as much as possible, for him to run first. And it worked," Jonatan said.

Jonathan became the only Indonesian men's singles representative to qualify for the last four of the French Open 2023. Meanwhile, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting was stopped after being defeated by Li Shi Feng from China with a score of 15-21, 13-21, Friday.