Viktor Axelsen Bursts Onto Scene
After surprising Swedish number one Henri Hurskainen on day one, along with fellow Danes Sune Gavnholt and Kasper Ipsen, the badminton world has taken notice of a new potential star in Viktor Axelsen. As his matches progress his performance seems to be improving as each consecutive opponent appears to be getting fewer points than the last. In the semi-finals he played France’s Mathieu Lo Ying Ping and while the first game seemed like they may have been evenly matched, the Dane turned it up in the second game leaving the Frenchman with few answers to the young Danes excellent shots. After an easy 21-15, 21-9 win Axelsen will be in his first EBU circuit final, while also playing his first EBU circuit tournament. All eyes will be watching the final tomorrow against another relatively unknown player Indra Bagus Ade Chandra from Indonesia.
In the women’s singles Rong Bo’s excellent ascent from qualifications was brought to an end by England’s Elizabeth Cann in two straight games 22-20, 21-12. In the final Cann will have to face Japan’s Kaori Imabeppu who saw off the top seeded Ella Diehl earlier in the tournament.
Here are the finals line ups for the Swedish International 2010:
Men’s Singles: Indra Bagus Ade Chandra vs Vicktor Axelsen
Women’s Singles: Kaori Imabeppu vs Elizabeth Cann
Men’s Doubles: Mikkel Elbjorn and Christian John Skovgaard vs Chris Langridge and Robin Middleton
Women’s Doubles: Helle Nielsen and Maria Ropke vs Lotte Jonathans and Paulien Van Dooremalen
Mixed Doubles: Mads Pieler Kolding and Britta Andersen vs Valerly Atrashchenkov and Elena Prus
Swedish International 2010 Draws
Swedish International 2010 Draws
With the cancellation of the Estonian International last week the Swedish International is the first EBU tournament of the new year, and a strong field is in play after a short holiday break.
While the Danes may be upset with the loss of Jan O Jorgensen across the globe in Malaysia, they have reason to maintain their hope for the future today. Another young rising star seems to be coming up the ranks as Viktor Axelsen fought his way past Sweden’s top player Henri Hurskainen in three long games, and then also defeated his compatriot Sune Gavnholt in two tight games to book himself a place in the quarter-finals. In the next round he will have to face off against another Dane Kasper Ipsen. A strong performance in his first ever EBU event.
Perhaps the upset of the day comes with Finnish Ville Lang the second seed falling to Swedish qualifier Mattias Borg in two relatively quick games 21-13, 21-14, only to lose the next round to another Finnish player Eeto Heino.
Chinese qualifier Rong Bo is back at it again after a strong performance last month in Ireland. Today she defeated 8th seeded Chloe Magee and Alesia Zaltsava to earn her quarter-final place against Tatjana Bibik.
While the Danes are fairing well in the mens the women are struggling a bit more. The only Danish woman left is Camilla Sorensen who managed to upset the second seed Maja Tvrdy in three games 21-15, 15-21, 21-11, and then followed that up with another win over Japan’s Mizuho Muramatsu 21-16, 16-21, 21-16 to make it to the quarter-finals against England’s Elizabeth Cann.
Swedish International 2010 Draws
Day 3 of the Dutch Open pitted the seeds against one another in a place in the quarter finals, top seeded Wong Choon Haan and second seed Chetan Anand progressed safely into the last 8 with comfortable two game victories.
The local support came to see 3rd seeded Dicky Palyama against 15th seed Dmytro Zavadsky of Ukraine play for a place in the last 8. Palyama was rarely troubled in a one-sided affair that the Dutchman won 21-11, 21-15 in under half an hour.
6th seeded Eric Pang played 12th seeded Peter Mikkelsen for his place in the final 8. Mikkelsen took an early lead in the opening game only for Pang to rally back and take the opening set 21-13. The second set was a dominant display by the sixth seed that never allowed Mikkelsen to take the lead and eventually taking the second game 21-15 to book his place in the quarters.
In the quarterfinal stage, all but one seed, Kasper Ipsen has progressed to the last 8. Ipsen defeated 7th seed Marc Zweibler in Round 2 and has defeated two other Germans on route to the last 8 where he will play Dicky Palyama.
Eric Pang plays 4th seed Arvind Bhat of India after he defeated 11th seed Anup Sridhar in their last 16 encounter by the closest of margins, 23-21 in the third set. The other two matches see top seed Wong Choon Hann play 5th seeded Rajiv Ouseph of England, with second seed Chetan Anand playing 8th seed Kashyap Parupalli in an all-Indian affair.
The Ladies singles has three Dutch ladies in the last 8. 4th seed Jie Yao, 2nd seed Judith Meulendijks and unseeded Patty Stolzenbach. All three ladies have failed to drop a set on their way to the quarters.
Jie Yao plays Karin Schnaase of Germany in the Quarter Finals whilst Patty Stolzenback plays Olga Koron of Poland. Judith Meulendijks plays Jeanine Cicognini of Switzerland for a place in the last 4.
All the todays results and tomorrows matches can be found here:
Yonex Dutch Open 2009 Draws
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