Taiwan’s Wang Tzu-wei (???) put last week’s disappointment at the Denmark Open behind him to beat Israel’s Misha Zilberman 21-15, 19-21, 21-9 in the first round of badminton’s French Open Wednesday.

Having been knocked out in the first round at Odense, Wang made a stunning comeback to make it into the second round of the men’s singles by defeating Zilberman in 56 minutes on court no. 2 at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin in Paris.

Wang, ranked 10th in the world, widened the score to create a comfortable 15-5 lead in the match’s rubber after reeling in five consecutive points in the first game.

The Taiwanese pocketed the first game as the World No. 47 Zilberman was unable to catch up.

In the second game, the score was kept close before Zilberman grabbed eight consecutive points to shoot ahead 16-9.

Wang gave chase to level the scores at 19-19 but lost the next two points to hand the second game to Zilberman.

The score crossed paths again at 1-1 in the third game before Wang regained his composure to collect nine consecutive points.

Wang widened the score to 20-8, before Zilberman was able to save the first match point.

The Israeli, however, was unable to save the second, conceding the match to Wang.

Wang will next face World No. 35 Heo Kwanghee of South Korea in the round of 16 Thursday for a slot in the quarterfinals.

The 2021 French Open Super 750 badminton tournament, held Oct. 26-31, carries a total prize purse of US$600,000.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel