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PARIS, Oct. 24-- Chinese veteran badminton star Lin Dan stopped his journey at the 2018 BWF French Open after losing the first round in full games here on Wednesday, while Chinese shuttlers rode high in women's singles with all five securing second round berths. Lin let slide a 21-9 win in the first game before conceding the next two 21-14, 21-14 to Japanese Kazumasa Sakai. "It was not about my fitness, but mentality," the 35-year-old Lin told Xinhua. "I conceded too many turnovers to earn my opponent points. In the first game, I heated up into the match quickly, while committing many unforced turnovers when I wanted to perform better in the next two games." Lin failed to set up his second round clash with reigning world champion Kento Momota of Japan, who marched past Hsu Jen Hao of Chinese Taipei 21-19, 21-12. Lin's teammate Chen Long powered past home favorite Brice Leverdez 21-11, 21-13. Chen heated up quickly with an 11-3 lead at the changeover, before triumphing the first game after Leverdez suffered consecutive misjudgment. The second game was displayed more fiercely at the start, when the Frenchman took on high-quality smashes for 4-all, but the reigning Olympic champion pulled away for an 11-8 lead at the changeover and never ceded his advantage later on. "I didn't play the French Open as many times as other Opens, so I cherished every match here. I felt that I was quite concentrated today," said Chen. | 
