Chloe and Sam Magee were the unlikely on court heroes today, Tues, 20th Oct, at the Denmark Open as the comfortably eased into the main draw in the picturesque city of Odense.

In the opening mixed doubles qualification the Magee siblings took only 20 minutes to end the home dreams of Peter Christophersen and Maria Thorberg 21-6 21-17. Following hot on the heels of their round one qualification win the Raphaoe pair dealt a killer blow to the aspirations of GB pairing of Emma mason and Andrew Ellis in 2 sets. From the outset the Magee’s were in total control as Mason struggled to find form on her return after an extended Achilles injury. After securing the opening set 21-14 the Irish pair, in an obviously confident mood, steamrolled the second set 21-10 to create history to be the first Irish pair to take their rightful place in the first round proper of a BWF Super Series event.

“Today we played well and all that was really in our minds was to go out and give a good performance. Even though we are brother and sister this is our first real season playing mixed doubles so we are both very happy to be in the first round of a Super Series event” said Chloe Magee after her victory.

Sam and Chloe’s reward for their efforts today is a first round meeting with Chinese number 6 seeds Tao Jiaming and Zhang Yawen the number 6 seeds for the tournament.

As the Magee’s were creating history Scott Evans was aiming to build on his recent run of good form in his effort to get to the main draw proper at the opposite end of the Odense Sports Arena. After a convincing win over Ukranian Valeriy Atrashchenkov in the opening qualifying round the spark appeared to be missing from the Irish number 1 games for his second round tie against Sune Gavnholt of Denmark. The tall Dane controlled the match from the get go and took the opening set 21-13. Evans rallied in the second set and showed glimpses of the form that had seen him get to the semi final of the Czech International recently. At 13-12 down in the second it appeared Evans was in the mood for a comeback but his Danish opponent buoyed on by the local crowd upped his tempo and at 19-16 took the remaining two points needed for a well deserved victory.

“I made far too many errors today and to be fair he (Gavnholt) played very well. It was very disappointing but recently I have adapted my game to try and be more patient on court and its all still a work in progress” said Evans after his defeat.

In the men’s doubles their was heartache for Super Series newcomer Tony Stephenson and Sam Magee as  they fought out an epic three set battle with the much fancied English duo Ellis and Mills. The English pair took the opening set 25-23 but the Irish duo should immense courage to battle back to take the second 21-19. The deciding rubber was a cliff hanger that had the entire local Danish crowd firmly rooted to their seats and no one was leaving until the conclusion of this the final match drama on qualification day. The set ebbed and flowed back and forth with Magee in inspiring form for the Irish pair. Unfortunately it was not to be as the Mills and Ellis managed to close out the game 25-23 after 45 minutes on court.

By Mark Phelan (Live in Odense) Photos: badmintonphoto.com (Live)