Taufik Falls Early to Kazushi Yamada
The first morning at the All England saw seeds tumble on a regular basis before the afternoon brought the best players in the world show to off their ability. However, play ended with the biggest shock of the day with the defeat of Taufik Hidayat.
World championship quarter finalist Kazushi Yamada crushed the 2nd seeded Hidayat in a one-sided 21-14, 21-10 victory that took just over 30 minutes and opened the bottom half of the draw for the likes of Lin Dan to capitalize on. The Chinese have a strong showing with six players in the last 16 and the biggest name of them all is safely into the second round as Lin Dan progressed to set up a second round match against Rumbaka of Indonesia. Last years beaten finalist Kenichi Tago takes on last years semi finalist in Peter Gade in the second round this year, both progressing without difficulty today.
Lee Chong Wei was in superb form to set up a tough second round match against the 4th of last years semi finalists in Bao Chunlai, with the Chinese player impressive in his 21-10, 21-6 win over Sony Kuncoro in his opening round match. The Danish presence in the draw is down to just the 4th seeded Gade, with Jan O Jorgensen and Joachim Persson both crashing out on the opening day. World champion Chen Jin survived a tough opening game against Rajiv Ouseph before cruising to a 2 game victory and a second round match against Germany’s Marc Zwiebler. Continue reading »
Taufik Struggling On Day One
The first calendar event of 2011 is underway in Chinese Taipei, the best eight players in the Super Series of 2010 are in action for a chance to be named Super Series Finals Champion. It will also provide excellent competition before the first Premier Series event in Korea in just under 3 weeks time.
Group A in the Mens Singles provided an all-Danish encounter, as Peter Gade took on Jan O Jorgensen in what promised to be a fantastic start to 2011. It didn’t fail to deliver as both players shared the opening two games before Gade came out on top in the third game to take the opening match in the group in just over an hour. The other Group A match was much more one-sided as Lee Chong Wei defeated Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam in two games to book his at the top of Group A after the opening matches.
Group B has a younger array of players, except for Taufik Hidayat who took one of the seeded players in his group, Boonsak Ponsana in the opening match. After splitting the opening two games, Hidayat tamely lost the deciding game to make qualification to the knockout stage increasingly difficult. The other match in the group was an all-Chinese match between Chen Long and Du Pengyu which also went to three games, with the seeded Long taking the match in the third.
In the Women’s Singles, top seeded Wang Yihan beat Petya Nedelcheva to book her place atop Group B but the other seed in the group, Tine Baun suffered a surprise defeat to Yip Pui Yin in two games to jeopardise her future in the event. Group A is topped by Wang Shixian after her two game win over Yao Jie and the other seed in the group, Bae Youn Joo defeated Salakjit Ponsana in three games to ensure her qualification to the last 4 is in her own hands.
The top seeds met in the opening match in the Mens Doubles in Group A, with Koo and Tan losing out to top seeded Ko and Yoo of Korea in two games. Cai and Fu won the other match in the group, defeating Chai and Zhang in in a tight three game match. The top two seeds in Group B both won their opening round matches, with Boe and Mogensen defeating Kido and Setiawan in two games whilst Lee and Jung defeated Lee and Fang, also in two games.
The Womens Doubles was always going to be a lottery with just four seeds and every partnership capable of being anyone on any given day, Group A seen the top seeded Cheng and Chien win in front of a home crowd against Polii and Jauhari in two games whilst the 3/4 seeded Nedelcheva and Russkikh lost to Japanese pairing of Maeda and Suetsuna in two games. Group B was a similar story, with both unseeded pairs defeating their seeded opponents to throw the group wide open. Wang and Yu defeated their Chinese team mates Cheng and Zhao in three games whilst Fujii and Kakiiwa defeated the Thai pair of Voravichitchaikul and Aroonkesorn in two games.
Voravichitchaikul bounced back from her defeat in the womens doubles to team up with Anugritayawan to defeat the 3/4 seeded Zhang and Zhao in their opening Group A match. The top seeds in the group Laybourn and Rytter Juhl came through a tight three game match against the English pairing of Wallwork and Robertson. Group B saw both seeded pair crash to defeats, with the 3/4 seeded Mateusiak and Zieba losing to Ko and Ha in two games, whilst the highest seed in the group Thoungthongkam and Prapakamol lost to the Indonesia pair of Marissa and Gunawan.
Lin Dan Cruises Past Jorgensen
The recent decision from the Chinese to try out new partnerships has caused havoc throughout the three doubles events, leading to some of the top players in the world going into tournaments unseeded. Yu and Wang in the women’s doubles are used to being seeded in the top 3 of the event but fine themselves in the lottery of the unseeded players in who they match up with in the opening round.
The men’s singles does offer some sense of normality, with all of the 7 seeds progressing into the second round. Lin Dan safely disposed of Jan O Jorgensen in the opening round in two games, whilst 6th seeded Boonsak Ponsana narrowed scraped through against Chinese qualifier Wen Kai in three games. Lee Chong Wei and Chen Jin are still on route to meet in the last 8, with both coming through their first round matches in two games. Taufik Hidayat is also through to round 2 after an impressive win over Du Pengyu in his first match of the week.
The ladies singles was also a similar story, with all the seeds progressing except the 8th seed Ella Diehl who suffered her second opening round defeat in two weeks, this time losing out to Inthanon Ratchanok of Indonesia in three games. The fall of last year’s world champion Lu Lan has never been more evident than over the past two weeks, losing to Inthanon Ratchanok in China last week and this week a first round exit to Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in two games, who will now take on top seed Wang Xin in the second round. Saina Nehwal returned to Super Series action with a comfortable two game win and will have a much harder test in Round 2 against Salakjit Ponsana.
Lee and Fang, seeded 4 crashed out to the 2005 world champions, Bach and Gunawan in their opening round matchup in two games but were not the only seed to crash out in the opening round. Another Chinese Taipei pair, Chen and Lin also lost in the first round. Chai and Guo of China defeating the 8th seeds in two games to book their place in the second round. There was little trouble for the top seeds in the men’s doubles, #1 seeds Koo and Tan progressed easily with a two game victory and the 2nd seeded Kido and Setiawan joined the top seeds in the second round with their own two game victory.
Only 6 seeds progressed in the women’s singles, with the 8th seeded Ha and Jung as well as 7th seeded Zhang and Zhang crashed out in the first round. The match of the day tomorrow will undoubtably be the second round match between Zhao and Cheng who take on the unseeded Chinese pair of Wang and Yu as this match could easily be a matchup in a final in 2011 should the two partnerships stick together into next year.
Half of the seeds in the mixed doubles lost in their opening round matchups, some due to new Chinese partnerships whilst others were disappointing performances from the higher ranked partnership. 4th seeded Robertson and Wallwork crashed out to Yoo and Kim of Korea in three games, 7th seeded Voravichitchaikul and Anugritayawon of Thailand lost out to the new Chinese pairing of Xu and Yu in a tight three game match. 3rd seeded Thoungthongkam and Prapakamol were defeated in impressive fashion by He and Ma of Chinese and the 2nd seeded Marissa and Gunawan lost to Malaysians Chan and Goh in three games. The top seeded Mateusiak and Zieba take on last weeks winning pair Jiaming and Tian in their second round match to test their title credentials tomorrow.
Hong Kong Super Series 2010 Draws
Pi Hongyan Is France's Top Hope
Even without Gade or Baun picking up a title last week in Odense, Danish badminton is on a real high after their trio of titles. Jan O Jorgensen proved his credentials as a Super Series winner and the teenage sensation Viktor Axelsen breezed through the qualifying rounds to add another Danish contender in the biggest events for years to come.
Peter Gade returns to action this week, or he will at least try on Wednesday. He is unsure himself about the level of his play going into tomorrow’s opener against Carl Baxter. Last week’s winner Jan O Jorgensen takes on Przemyslaw Wacha in a tough opening round match and could face another rematch with Viktor Axelsen in the second round, however the 16-year old faces the tough task of defeating Du Pengyu of China in his opening round match. 2nd seeded Taufik Hidayat also starts with a tough opening round match against Wang Zhengming, the Chinese qualifier.
Pi Honygan will be under similar pressure as when the World Championships were held in August with a nations expectation on her shoulders. Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying is the French 3rd seeded first round opponent on the show court on Wednesday afternoon. Wang Yihan continues to play whilst most of the Chinese squad have opted not to play in Europe this month, she takes on Marie Maunoury of France who came through the qualifiers to reach the main draw. Tine Baun will want to put last week’s disappointment behind her with a strong performance this week, she starts her campaign against Elena Prus of Ukraine.
Last weeks winners of the men’s doubles, Boe and Mogensen look to continue their excellent run of form this week, they take on the French pairing of Careme and Grosjean in their opening round match. Last week’s runners-up will hope to go one better as Kido and Setiawan start their campaign against the Dutch pairing of Bosch and Ridder.
The Japanese contingent that has been progressing deep into tournaments has chosen not to play in France this week, leaving the door open for last weeks runners-up, Vislova and Sorokina to go one better this week. The seeds for the women’s doubles have a European look to them, with 7 of the 8 seeds coming from a European nation.
One big name pairing who are playing this week are the top seeds in the mixed doubles, Marissa and Gunawan of Indonesia. They start with a tough opener against Durkin and Vislova of Russia. Last weeks winners Laybourn and Rytter Juhl start against the American pair of Lee and Ho whilst last weeks runners-up Robertson and Wallwork start against Moren and Pocztowiak of Poland in their opener.
Koo Kien Keat Wins Two Golds
After a long road and lots of badminton the big winners at the 2010 Commonwealth Games were Malaysia and hosts India. While these two teams were the gold and silver medalists respectively in the team event, they split the individual golds 3-2. First off in the mixed doubles Malaysian super star Koo Kien Keat would win his first gold of the tournament along with partner Chin Eei Hui. The Malaysian pair defeated England’s Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork 22-20, 21-12. Next would be India’s turn to win their first badminton gold of the tournament. Jwalla Gutta and Ashwini Ponnapa took on Singapore’s Yao Lei and Shinta Mulia Sari and won in two relatively close games 21-16, 21-19.
In spite of Rajiv Ouseph’s strong ability as a mens singles player he was far outclassed when Lee Chong Wei proved once again why he is the number one ranked player in the world. The domineering Malaysian destroyed Ouseph in two fast games 21-8, 21-10 to win his second consecutive Commonwealth Games title.
In the men’s doubles Koo Kien Keat would yet again dash Nathan Robertson’s hopes of a gold medal. Koo partnered with Tan Boon Heong to defeat Robertson and his partner Anthony Clark 21-19, 21-14.
Finally the highlight match of the day for the home crowd was their favourite player Saina Nehwal’s match against Malaysian Wong Mew Choo. Saina was close to being defeated after losing the first game 19-21, and was forced to pull out a close second game 22-20. Saina took the match in the end by winning the third game 21-13 and won her first Commonwealth Games gold medal.
Lee Steps Away From Second CWG Gold
Lee Chong Wei has successfully negotiated the early rounds and defeated the two seeds in his half of the draw in the quarters, then defeating Chetan Anand in the semi finals to set up the gold medal match against England’s Rajiv Ouseph who defeated another Indian in the 5th seeded Parupalli to set up Thursday’s final.
India’s big hope for gold comes from Saina Nehwal, as she successfully progressed into Thursday’s final after beating Scotland’s Susan Egelstaff in the semi final in two games to set up a gold medal match against Mew Choo Wong of Malaysia. The 2nd seed defeated England’s Elizabeth Cann in three games to book her place in Thursday’s final. Cann will take on Egelstaff tomorrow in a rematch of their 2006 bronze medal match for a chance of a medal in 2010.
Top seeds Koo and Tan of Malaysia are through to Thursday’s final against the 2nd seeded English pair of Nathan Robertson and Anthony Clark. The top seeded Malaysians have failed to drop a game on route to the final whilst the English pair had to come through a tight three game match over Triyacha and Wong of Singapore.
India has a second chance of gold in the women’s doubles, with 2nd seeds Gutta and Machiman progressing to Thursday’s final against Singapore’s top seed Sari and Yao, who defeated the 3rd seeded English pair of Wallwork and White in two games to book their place in the gold medal match on Thursday.
Nathan Robertson’s second chance at gold is also Koo Kien Keat’s second chance also as the pair match up in the mixed doubles final also. Top seeded Robertson partners Jenny Wallwork against the unseeded Malaysian pair of Koo and Chin, who have partnered up just for the Commonwealth Games. They defeated the 2nd seeded Gutta and Valiya in the quarter finals and then 3rd seeded Triyacha and Yao of Singapore in the semi finals.
Baxter Through to Next Round
It is one of the few events that pits the worlds best against the complete unknown. This is exactly the check for Lee Chong Wei, the top seed defeated Alexander Pang of Canada before taking on Muwowo of Zambia for a place in the quarter finals. Carl Baxter also takes on an unknown Jamaican for a place in the last 8.
Local interest will see the 6th seeded Parupalli take on the Scottish #1, Kieran Merrilees in one of the more competitive matches of the day in the women’s singles.
Saina Newhal is another with a nations hopes on her back, with a likely matchup with Anna Rice in the last 8 if both make it through their matches against players from Northern Ireland and Guernsey respectively. Susan Egelstaff takes on Michelle Chan for a place against Fu Mingtian in the quarter finals.
Xing Aiying takes on Michelle Li of Canada, with a likely match with Elizabeth Cann in the last 8. India’s second hope is with the 5th seeded Mutatkar, who takes on Scottish teenager Kirsty Gilmour for a place in the last 8 with Wong Mew Choo being the likely opponent.
Koo and Tan start their campaign in the men’s doubles against the Welsh pair of Morgan and Phillips whilst 2nd seeded Robertson and Clark take on the Canadian pair of Ng and Vendervet. The women’s doubles top seeds, Sari and Yao take on Eastmond and Watson of Barbados whilst the other seed in this half of the draw, Wallwork and White take on Gao and Ko of Canada. Indian 2nd seeds Gutta and Machiman take on the Malaysian pair of Chin and Woon.
The mixed doubles has seen two rounds of play, with top seeds Robertson and Wallwork being untested so far. They take on the Singapore pair of Wijaya and Sari in a last 16 match. The main match for the locals will be the all-Indian last 16 match between Kallyad and Machiman takes on Valiya and Gutta, the 2nd seeds.
While hardly a huge surprise it was nonetheless a weight lifted off of the Malaysia team’s shoulders today when they secured yet another team event gold medal. Looking back on the history of the games we see only England and Malaysia have ever taken the team title.
Malaysia def India 3-1
The event started out with Malaysia’s doubles super star Koo Kien Keat partnering up with Chin Ee Hui in the mixed doubles against Jwala Gutta and Diju Valiya Veetil. This was an important match for Malaysia to win since their strength lies in their men’s team, and a loss in the mixed would put them in serious danger. However, in spite of going to three games the Malaysian pair managed to pull out the win 21-14, 10-21, 21-10 to secure the first point in the tie.
Perhaps the most assured win for Malaysia would come from the men’s singles with world number 1 Lee Chong Wei taking on Kashyap Parupalli. A surprising choice by the India team to field Parupalli as he is India’s third ranked singles player behind both Chetan Anand and Arvind Bhat at number 32 in the world. Regardless the Indian shuttler faired well against Lee in the first game posting a 21-18 score and seemed a legitimate threat. However, in the second game he failed to maintain the same pressure and was easily disposed of 21-7 putting Malaysia up 2-0 in the tie.
The only loss of the day came at the hands of India’s superstar women’s singles player Saina Nehwal who also happens to be the tournaments top seed in the individual event. Saina faced off against Wong Mew Choo who managed to sneak out a close first game 26-24. It was a good start for the Malaysian but Saina managed to pull things back in her favour in the second 21-17 to set up a final deciding game. This also went in the Indian’s favour as she went on to win the match, and India’s first point in the tie, 24-26, 21-17, 21-14.
To seal victory Malaysia brought out more of their superstars as world number one men’s doubles pairing Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong took to the court against Thomas Sanava and Rupesh Kumar. The Indian pairing are strong players in their own right, but they were no match for Koo and Tan who won the match 21-12, 21-19 to win Malaysian second consecutive team gold in the Commonwealth Games.
In the bronze medal match England defeated Singapore 3-1 with two of their points coming from victories by Nathan Robertson in the mens doubles and mixed doubles.
England def Singapore 3-1
Stay tuned here for more reports as we start the individual events.
Hidayat Squeezes Into Last 16
Another day and another few seeds crash out early. Sony Kuncoro’s withdrawal was old news but the match that he was supposed to play was scheduled for today, meaning the definite end for the 8th seed. He wasn’t the only seed to not see the last 16 as Jan Jorgensen’s poor form in 2010 saw him crash out to Rajiv Ouspeh of England in two games.
Ouseph’s win sets up a last 16 encounter with top seed Lee Chong Wei, who came through his all-Malaysia encounter with unseeded Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, winning 21-16, 21-16. The 12th seeded Kenichi Tago was also defeated today, losing to Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand in two tight games and sets up a last 16 match with the 5th seeded Taufik Hidayat who came through his match with Hsieh Yu Hsin in three games.
Lin Dan and Bao Chunlai had little trouble in setting up one of the best matches of the third round tomorrow, both comfortably winning in two games. The last round of 16 match in the top half sees 7th seeded Tien Minh Nguyen take on the 13th seeded Park Sung Hwan of Korea after the pair also won their second round matches in two games.
Chen Yong Zhao Ashton of Singapore is the unlikely story of the event, defeating Stephan Wojcikiewicz in his second round match to set up a third round encounter with 4th seeded Chen Jin, after he defeated another European to book his place in the last 16, beating Kestutis Navickas of Lithuania 21-16, 21-16 and will play Chen in tomorrow for a place in the quarter finals.
Boonsak Ponsana, the 9th seed defeated England’s Carl Baxter and plays Hsueh Hsuan Yi who was scheduled to play the 8th seeded Simon Santoso, only for the Indonesian player to pull out; leaving Hidayat as their best chance of success. Kazuski Yamada in into tomorrow’s third round after the Japanese player defeated 16th seeded Wong Choong Hann in three games and will take on Dicky Palyama of Holland after a two game victory over Misha Zilberman.
The final match of the last 16 is a rematch of the European Championship semi final, between Marc Zwiebler seeded 15 and Peter Gade, the second seed. Gade was on court for 74 minutes to fend off Shon Wan Ho of Korea in three games whilst Zwiebler defeated his Spanish opponent Pablo Abian in two games.
The bottom half of the women’s singles played their 2nd round matches today, without the loss of a seed in the entire half of the draw except for Zhou Mi who withdrew pre-event. Only Ai Goto remains unseeded in the lower half, defeating Linda Zechiri of Bulgaria 21-8, 21-10 to book her place in the last 16 against Wang Xin of China, the 3rd seed.
Pi Hongyan is France’s best chance of a title this week and started with an impressive 21-8, 21-8 win over Elena Prus of Ukraine. She takes on the 16th seed Kim Moon Hi of Korea, who came through her match in three games. Saina Nehwal had to come from a game down to progress into the 3rd round, eventually winning 20-22, 21-15, 21-8 over Chen Hsiao Huan of Chinese Taipei. Newhal takes on Russia’s 13th seed, Ella Diehl.
The bottom half of the men’s doubles played their second round matches, with Clark and Robertson continuing their excellent from with another two game win to set up a third round match against Cai and Fu of China after their two game win also today. 3rd seeded Boe and Mogensen safely progressed into the last 16 with a two game win over fellow Danes Faust and Kristiansen to set up a match with Ko and Yoo of Korea, seeded 13.
Kido and Setiawan had to work hard against Poland’s Cwalina and Logosz to set up an all-Indonesia third round match with Dasuki and Sukmawan.The final match from the bottom half sees 6th seeded Fang and Lee of Chinese Taipei take on Hashimoto and Hirata of Japan, seeded 11. Fang and Lee winning easily in two games whilst the Japanese pair were taken to three games by Malaysia’s Gan and Tan.
Just like in the women’s singles, 7 seeds remain from the 8 that started in the bottom half of the draw. Mason and Bankier defeated the 13th seeds in their opening round but lost out to Van Dooremalen and Jonathans of Holland in their second round game in two games, who will take on the 3rd seeded Cheng and Chien of Chinese Taipei in Round 3.
Du and Yu, China’s second seeds defeated French pairing Fontaine and Luttmann in their opening match of the championships in two games to set up a match with the 15th seeded Matsuo and Naito whose 21-0, 21-8 win over Virta and Rautala was perhaps the most impressive performance of the week to date.
There were also impressive wins for Sorokina and Vislova over another French pair of Chanteur and Matias, the 12th seeds winning 21-8, 21-7 to set up a third round match with Hyun and Jung of Korea who were a game up over Gao and Ko of Canada when the pair retired.
Lee and Lee finally ended the questions over their fitness with a two game win in their opening match, they will play Lee and Chien of Chinese Taipei tomorrow in their last 16 match. There were also wins for Gunawan and Marissa who had to come back from a game down against South Africa’s James and Edwards in what would have been one of the shocks of the week.
The world championships begun their campaign with a tough two game encounter, setting Laybourn and Rytter Juhl with a third round match with Robertson and Wallwork of England, the 15th seeds. All 8 seeds on the bottom of half of the mixed doubles are still in the event.
Kuncoro Withdraws From Worlds
The day began with the news of Sony Kuncoro’s withdrawal from the men’s singles with a back injury, Misha Zilberman who was expected to play Kuncoro tomorrow has a bye into round 2. The questions going into today were of Lin Dan and if he had the hunger for a run at the title this year.
We didn’t have to wait long for an answer as the 3rd seed won his opening round match over Iran’s Ali Shahhosseini 21-4, 21-10 in 26 minutes to book his place in Wednesday’s second round where he will play Sweden’s Henri Hurskainen after a two game victory over Hungary’s Henrik Toth. Play begun at 10am with the World #1 Lee Chong Wei in his quest to all to his first All England triumph in March, he started his campaign against Kevin Cordon and promptly progressed into the second round, winning his match 21-7, 21-11.
Jan Jorgensen looks to have put his recent dip in form behind him with a two game victory over Austria’s Michael Lahensteiner to book a second round match with Rajiv Ouseph. The Englishman took on Eric Pang in one of the best matches of the opening round today, with Ouseph coming through 23-21 in the 3rd game to book his place against the 11th seeded Jorgensen. There was also a comfortable two game victory for Taufik Hidayat over Nigeria’s Ola Fagbemi and the 5th seed takes on Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Yu Hsin in Round 2 on Wednesday.
10th seeded Bao Chunlai is safely through into Round 2 after a 21-11, 21-17 win over Hong Kong’s Yan Kit Chan and will play Canada’s David Snider on Wednesday after his two game win over Scotland’s Alistair Casey. The 7th seeded Tien Minh Nguyen and 13th seeded Park Sung Hwan are also through to Wednesday’s second round after both won in two games.
In the Women’s singles, the top 8 seeds received byes so it was a day for the lower seeded players to impress. Yip Pui Yin was the first of the seeds to progress into Round 2, the 12th seed defeating France’s Perrine Lebuhanic in two games. However for the 11th seeded Yao Jie, the job was a lot harder as she was taken to a third game by Singapore’s Xing Aiying before coming through after a 50 minute encounter.
The 13th seed Ella Diehl defeated Jeanine Cicognini in two games, but the 15th seeded Petya Nedelcheva needed three games to defeat Judith Meulendijks in 55 minutes. There were also wins for the 10th seeded Eriko Hirose and for 14th seeded Bae Sueng Hee of Korea. Ai Goto is also one to watch this week, the Japanese woman is in an excellent run of form and defeated Alesia Zaitsava 21-9, 21-9 to prove her own credentials.
The biggest shock of the day came late on day 1 as Robertson and Clark took out the 10th seeded Bach and Gunawan in the men’s doubles, winning 21-9, 22-20. The 16th seeded Choong and Lee are also out, losing in three games to the German pairing of Hopp and Schottler. This means that the higher seedings in the section will not have to play a seed until the quarter final, which in these sections is Kido and Setiawan (Hopp/Schottler) and Cai/Fu (Robertson/Clark).
There were a few withdrawals in the event also, allowing the 9th seeded Chandra and Setiawan a bye into Round 2 as well as the 14th seeded Chai and Zhang. There were some seeds in action who progressed into the second round, 13th seeds Ko and Yoo are safely into the next round as well as the 11th seeded Hashimoto and Hirata of Japan.
The longest match of the day came in the women’s doubles as the unseeded Mason and Bankier of Scotland put out the 13th seeded pair Amitapai and Munkit of Thailand in three games. The 65-minute encounter was the only match to surpass the one-hour mark today. They take on the Dutch pairing of Jonathans and Van Dooremalen after they received a first round bye after Frier Kristiansen and Roepke’s withdrawal. There were impressive wins for the 12th seeded Sorokina and Vislova over Kobtseva and Prus of Ukraine, winning 21-16, 21-5.
The 4th seeded Cheng and Zhao have also received a second round bye after the withdrawal of Chang and Chou of Chinese Taipei today. The 16th seeded Gutta and Ponnappa of India received a first round bye after Barning and Muskens of Holland also pulled out today. The most impressive performance of the day came from the English pairing of White and Wallwork as they progressed into Round 2 with a stunning 21-3, 21-14 victory today.
The 11th seeded Chen and Chou ensured that Johannes Schottler would not put out a second seed on the day, defeating him and his partner Sandra Marinello 21-13, 21-14 to progress into Round 2. Gabrielle White was also looking to create more news as her and partner Chris Adcock took the 9th seeded Indian’s to a deciding game, only to lose out to V and Gutta 21-8 in the deciding game.
Day 2 will see the end of the opening round matches for the men’s singles and mixed doubles before the start of the top names in women’s singles take centre stage night 2 of the World Championships.
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