All Eyes On Axelsen In Odense
The 2010 Denmark Open is without many of the top Chinese players and no Lee Chong Wei in the men’s singles, but the absence of these players is Denmark’s advantage as Peter Gade goes into the singles as the top seed, as well as Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen in the men’s doubles. Jan O Jorgensen and Tine Baun offer outside chances of another threat to the singles titles, also going to attempt to make the main draw is Denmark’s newest star, Viktor Axelsen. A streak of late pullouts has offered him the opportunity to make a name for himself on the Super Series circuit.
The men’s singles is littered with potential winners, unseeded this year is Joachim Persson who is a former top 10 player, Kazushi Yamada who made the world championship quarter finals and last weeks winner in Holland, Sho Sasaki. Taufik Hidayat is the big threat to Danish success this week; he starts with a qualifer before likely to take on the winner of the Carl Baxter – Joachim Persson matchup in an intrigued 2nd round encounter. The most intriguing sub-plot is a potential all-Danish second round match featuring Jan Jorgensen against Viktor Axelsen, should the 16-year old progress through 3 rounds of qualifying and a first round match against Mathieu Lo Ping Ying. Denmark’s biggest hope will undoubtedly be Peter Gade, who begins is campaign on Wednesday against Wong Wing Ki of Hong Kong. However, there is talk of Gade carrying a back injury that may hamper his chances this week.
One of China’s biggest stars had made the trip to Odense, Wang Yihan is looking to regain her #1 spot after losing the place to Wang Xin after the World Championships in Paris in August. She begins on Wednesday morning with a match against Jeanine Cicognini of Switzerland. Tine Baun is seeded 2 and starts with an opening round match against Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand.
The men’s doubles top seeds are also from Denmark, as Boe and Mogensen take on Goh and Teo of Malaysia in the first round on Wednesday night. Their biggest challengers will be Kido and Setiawan of Indonesia who start with a match against Kawamae and Sato of Japan in their opening round.
The women’s doubles has a similar feeling to the Dutch Open last week, with the seeds being littered with Japanese players. Maeda and Suetsuna are seeded 1 for the event and receive a first round bye, the second seeded Fujii and Kakiiwa also receive a first round bye. The main challenges to Japanese success will come from the Bulgarian/Russian partnership of Nedelcheva and Russkikh who are seeded 3rd for the event and take on Danes Skelbaek and Heisbol in round 1.
Poles Mateusiak and Zieba take the top seeding in the mixed doubles, but there is plenty of Danish challengers waiting, like the 2009 World Champions Laybourn and Rytter Juhl, seeded 3rd for the event but have a tough opener against last weeks Dutch Open winners, Sorokina and Nikolaenko of Russia. Fischer and Pedersen of Denmark are seeded 5th for the event also and face a qualifier in round 1. 2nd seeded Gunawan and Marissa of Indonesia take on Wiratama and Tse of Hong Kong in their opening match on Wednesday morning.
Picture Provided by Rene Lagerwaard
Gade Starts Strong
The upsets failed to materialize on Day 1 but there were a few big names crashing out of the mixed doubles in on the second day of the World Championships.
The bottom half of the draw for the men’s singles got underway today, with 2nd seeded Peter Gade being the main attraction on this side of the draw. His opponent with the Brazilian Daniel Paiola wasn’t expected to trouble the Dane and that was the case as Gade stormed into Round 2 in just 23 minutes, winning 21-10, 21-7. 4th seeded Chen Jin of China is also safely into the second round, defeating Finland’s Ville Lang in his first match 21-14, 21-14.
There was some good news for Indonesia after Kuncoro’s injury, with 8th seeded Simon Santoso progressing to the second round after a two game victory over Poland’s Przemyslaw Wacha. There were also wins for Wong Choong Hann, Marc Zwiebler but a surprise loss for the 14th seeded Chetan Anand in two games, losing to Singapore’s Chen Yong Zhao Ashton. 9th seeded Boonsak Ponsana is also safety into Round 2 after an impressive 21-6, 21-6 victory over Russia’s Vladimir Malkov.
The top half of the women’s singles got underway today, with top seed Wang Yihan winning her opening match in two games. There was similar success for 7th seeded Wang Lin after Maja Tvrdy of Slovenia. Both Chinese players will play seeded opponents in their third round matches, with 10th seed Eriko Hirose taking on Wang Yihan after her second two game victory of the week. 12th seeded Yip Pui Yin takes on Wang Lin after defeating Anna Rice in two games.
There was a winning start for Tine Baun also, the 4th seed defeating Lianne Tan of Belgium to book her place in the last 16. She will play the 15th seeded Petya Nedelcheva after a two game victory over Larisa Griga of Ukraine. There was a late shock in as Cheng Shao Chieh defeated the 14th seeded Bae Sueng Hee in three games to book her place in the last 16. The 8th seeded Juliane Schenk was the last person on this side of the draw to book her place, defeating her Malaysian opponent in two games to go into Round 3.
The top half of the men’s doubles also took place today, with 7th seeded Lee and Jung progressing against the American duo of Fogarty and Neumann, winning the match 21-13, 21-4. The 4th seeded Guo and Xu are also through after an early scare in the opening game against Langridge and Middleton of England but eventually progressed 24-22, 21-15. Paaske and Rasmussen defeated their Austrian opponents in two games to also progress into the last 16.
There were also wins for the 12th seeded Chen and Lin as well as 14th seeded Chinese pair of Chai and Zhang. However the 9th seeded Chendra and Gunawan lost surprisingly to Suputra and Wijaya of Singapore in two games, another scalp taken by the Singapore squad at the championships. The 15th seeded Indian pair of Kumar and Thomas ended the African interest at the World Championships with a 21-14, 21-16 with over Viljoen and James of South Africa. The final match of the day seen the top seeds, Koo and Tan defeated the Czech duo of Kopriva and Kopriva to set up a 3rd round match against Chai and Zhang, the 14hth seeds from China.
The top seeds in the women’s doubles are safely into the last 16 as Ma and Jin comfortably beat their opponents, Wang and Wang from the USA 21-7, 21-7 to book their 3rd round match against Sari and Yao of Singapore. 5th seeded Miyuki and Suetsuna are also through to the last 16 with a two game win over Molina and Ojeda of Spain and take on the 10th seeded Nedelcheva and Russkikh.
The most convincing performance of the day came from the 6th seeded Ha and Kim of Korea who defeated Gruber and Jaquet 21-2, 21-5 in just 18 minutes to set up their 3rd round match against the 16th seeded Gutta and Ponnappa of India, who defeated Ukraine’s Ultina and Voytsekh in two games to book their place in the last 16.
In the bottom half of the draw, where no matches took place today there was still news as Lee and Lee pulled out of their second round match against Pan and TIan of Chinese tomorrow. This is likely due to an injury to Lee Kyung Won as Lee Hyo Jung is still scheduled to play with Lee Yong Dae in tomorrow’s mixed doubles match.
The biggest shock of the day came in the mixed doubles as 3rd seeded Mateusiak and Kostiuczyk were stunned by Singapore’s Triyachart and Yao to cap off a stunning day of upsets for the Singapore squad, winning the match in three games, 21-13, 16-21, 21-14. There was another seed falling in the same half of the draw as 11th seeded Chen and Chou crashed out to Yoo and Kim of Korea, who won the deciding game 24-22 to book their place in the last 16.
There were no such problems for others seeds, as the 12th seeded Ko and Ha progressed into the third round with a two game win over Hashimoto and Fujii of Japan. There was also an impressive win from the 8th seeded Zheng and Ma as they play just their 6th tournament of the year but still managed an impressive 21-7, 21-9 victory over their Ukrainian opponents. One of the final matches of the day saw the top seeded Natsir and Widianto defeat Kurniawan and Bernadet also of Indonesia in two games to progress into Round 3.
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.
China's Dominance Almost Certain
The Chinese domination of the 2009 Women’s Doubles looks likely to attempt a double in 2010 with 4 of the top 7 seeds being Chinese, with a new world champion guaranteed also with the 2009 champions with Zhang and Zhao not taking part this year.
The top seeds are the young Chinese pairing of Ma and Jin, much is expected of them after making the semi finals last year and they start their campaign in Round 2 against the American pairing of Wang and Wang, ranked 43rd in the world. The 11th seeded Sari and Yao from Singapore also receive a bye into round 2, and they will play the winner of Cooper and Slee of Australia and Ideh and Maria of Nigeria who are both ranked outside the top 100 in the world.
The Korean pair of Ha and Kim are seeded 6 for the championships and begin their run to the final against the world number 72 Swiss pairing of Gruber and Jacquet in round 2. The 16th seed Gutta and Ponnappa start in round 1 against Barning and Muskens of Holland, before a likely matchup between the winners of the Edwards and Viljoen of South Africa and Ulitina and Voytsekh of the Ukraine.
Last years beaten finalists look to go one better as the 4th seeded Cheng and Zhao begin with a first round bye before taking on Chang and Chou of Chinese Taipei, the world number 96. They are joined in this section by 14th seeded Thai pairing of Arronkesorn and Voravichitchaikul who take on the Greek duo of Karkantzia and Ligomenou, ranked 147th in the world. The other match in the section sees two of Europe’s best pairings go at it for a place in round 2 as Overzier and Marinello of Germany take on Denmark’s Damkjaer and Schjoett-Kristiansen, with both pairings ranked inside the top 30 in the world.
The 5th seeded Japanese pairing of Miyuki and Suetsuna has a first round bye before taking on the Spanish pairing of Molina and Ojeda, ranked over 100 places lower in the world rankings. The 10th seeded Bulgarian/Russian partnership of Nedelcheva and Russkikh take on the French pairing of Choinet and Rasidi The final match in the section is between England’s young pairing of Wallwork and White take on Canada’s St. Jacques and Cloutier for a place in round 2.
8th seeded Koreans Hyun and Jung take on the Canadian pair of Gao and Ko, ranked 53rd in their opening match after a first round bye, they are joined in their section by one of the top pairings on the EBU Circuit in Sorokina and Vislova who are ranked 12th for the event. They take on Ukrainian pair Prus and Kobtseva in their opening round match and the final match sees another French pairing of Chanteur and Matias take on Czech duo Basova and Krizkova for a place in round 2.
One of the form pairs of the last month are seeded 3rd, Chinese Taipei pairing of Cheng and Chien are the duo to look out for after wins in the US and Chinese Taipei in the last month, they begin with a second round match against Hong Kong’s Chan and Chau. The other seed in the section are the 13th seeds Amitapal and Munkit of Thailand who take on Scotland’s Mason and Bankier who are both coming back from long-term injuries. The other match in the section is between Denmark’s Roepke and Kristiansen and Holland’s Van Dooremalen and Jonathans.
The 7th seeded Pan and Tian might receive a first round bye, but their second round opponent will be a match for any partnership this season, they take on Korea’s Lee and Lee for a place in Round 3. The 9th seeded Japanese pairing of Fujii and Kakiiwa are the other seeds in the section and take on Yeh and Yeh of the USA in their opening round match. Also in the section is the world number 25 pairing of Lennartson and Wengberg of Sweden, who take on Australian pair of Veeran and Tang for a place in the second round.
The 2nd seeds begin their campaign against local pairing Fontaine and Luttmann for a place in round 3 of the competition. The 3rd Japanese seeded pair of Matsuo and Naito are the 15th seed for the event and take on the Polish pair of Poczyowiak and Wojtkowska for a place in the second round. The final match in the section sees the Belgian #1 duo of Annys and Corvillain take on Finland’s Rautala and Virta for a place in the second round of this years World Championships.
Women’s Doubles Draw
French Favourite Pi Hongyan
The 48 strong field in the women’s singles is missing one major name, the 2009 World Champion Lu Lan failed to reach the qualification within the Chinese rankings. With only the top four from any country eligible, Lu Lan was the 5th best ranked Chinese player, yet still the world number 9. Yanjiao Jiang is another casualty of the Chinese dominance in the event, being China’s number 6 and ranked 11 in the world.
Top seed Wang Yihan is given a bye in the first round before taking on the world #32 Porntip Buranaprasertuk of Thailand in the second round, her likely opponent is the 10th seeded Eriko Hirose. Hirose’s section starts with the 10th seed taking on Aditi Mutatkar of India, ranked 34th in the world. The winner of Hirose’s match will take on the winner of Maria Febe Kusumastuti of Indonesia, ranked 32nd in the world and Russia’s Tatjana Bibik, the world number 47.
Another Chinese player tops the seeding in the second section; Wang Lin of China is the 7th seed and receives a first round bye before taking on Slovenia’s world number 48, Maja Tvrdy. 12th seeded Yip Pui Yin is the other seed in the section and takes on local favourite and world number 106 Perrine Lebuhanic. The final match in the section and likely to play Yip Pui Yin in the second round is between Ireland’s Chloe Magee, ranked 69th in the world and Anna Rice of Canada, world number 42.
Tine Baun (formerly Rasmussen) is the 4th seed in the draw and the best chance for European success, after a first round bye she takes on Belgium’s world number, Lianne Tan who has failed to live up to her credentials as a junior to date. The second all-European match in the section is between Petya Nedelcheva, the 15th seed and Judith Meulendijks, the world number 23. This is one of the feature matches of the opening round. The winner of the previous match takes on the winner of Karen Foo Kune, the world number 102 and Larisa Griga, Ukraine’s world number 38.
Juliane Schenk offers European another possibility, the 8th seed has a first round bye before taking on Lydia Li Ya Cheah of Malaysia, the world number 78. The other seed in the section is the 14th seeded Bae Sueng Hee of Korea who plays Scotland’s world number 27 Susan Egelstaff in another extremely competitive opening round match. Last weeks winner Cheng Shao Chieh plays Any Nieminen of Finland with the winner taking on the winner of the Bae/Egelstaff match.
Hi Kim Moon is seeded 16 for the event and starts with a match against Portgual’s Telma Santos, the world number 88. The other opening round match in the section is between Michelle Chan Ky of New Zealand and Adrianti Firdasari of Indonesia, the world number 21 and the second highest ranked player not to be seeded. The highest seed in the section is France’s own Pi Hongyan who takes on Elena Prus of Ukraine, after a first round bye.
The 9th seeded Zhou Mi is the out of form seed in the competition, without a win in over a year and notorious for early upsets in the bigger events. Bulgaria’s Linda Zechiri, the world number 30 takes on Zhou Mi in round 1. Ai Goto has been in excellent form in recent months, the world number 22 takes on Alesia Zaitsava of Belarus, ranked 93rd in the world. The 3rd seeded Wang Xin is the highest seed in the section and after a opening round bye, takes on Canada’s Charmaine Reid, the world number 50.
The fourth of the Chinese seeds, Wang Shixian is the top seed from the seventh section of the draw but faces a tough opening match in the second round against world number 25, Thailand’s Salajkit Ponsana in another of the top matches in the opening round. Czech Kristina Ludikova, ranked 57th in the world takes on America’s Rena Wang, world number 80 for an opportunity to play the winner of the other match in the section, between Singapore’s Xing Aiying, world number 43 takes on the 11th seeded Yao Jie of Holland.
Similar to the men’s draw, Wong Mew Choo is ranked higher than one of the seeds in the event but the Malaysian missed out on a seeding. Hi Kim Moon is 20th in the world and the Wong is ranked 19th. Her campaign starts against the world number 51, Karin Schnaase of Germany for an opportunity to take on the seeded player in the second round. Ella Diehl is the seed from the top half of the section, with the 13th seed takes on another European tour veteran, Jeanine Cicognini, the world number 37 from Switzerland. The 2nd seeded Saina Newhal should put all the controversy over seeds to rest as she is the likely finalist from this half of the draw, she begins her week in round 2 with a match over Chen Hsiao Huan, the world number 65.
Sony Defeats Lee Chong Wei
Day three brought swift endings to many as only one of the 20 scheduled games lasted over the hour mark as many of the unseeded players found the quality of the seeded players too much to overcome in their quest to make the last 4. Robert Blair and Gabrielle White lasted just 28 minutes on court with the 3rd seeded Gunawan and Marissa of Indonesia in the opening mixed doubles quarter final of the day.
Laybourn and Rytter Juhl were equally impressive in their victory over their Indian opponents Valiyaveetil and Gutta, seeded 6. Top seeded Widianto and Natsir had to come from a game down against Bonde and Pedersen of Denmark, before booking their place in the last 4. Boonsak Ponsana was brutally harsh on Dicky Palyama in their singles encounter, winning 21-14, 21-5 in just 27 minutes to set up a semi final clash with Peter Gade, who came from a game behind against Simon Santoso to book his match against the Thai 4th seed.
The big shock of the day came in the final match of the day with Lee Chong Wei losing in three games to Sony Kuncoro, the top seeded Malaysia was far from dominant this week and his loss to the Indonesian 7th seeded was not as big a shock as it could have been with Lee Chong Wei clearly out of sorts this week. The other top seeded singles player, Saina Nehwal had little trouble defeating her unseeded Chinese opponent Li Xuerui, setting up another match against Chinese opposition in Lu Lan, the 4th seed.
The women’s doubles lost it top seeded pair still in the draw with 3rd seeded Nedelcheva and Russkikh crashing out to 5th seeded Kim and Lee of Korea. The men’s doubles lost its 3rd seeded pair in Boe and Mogensen as they lost out to Fang and Lee of Chinese Taipei.
Friday’s Full Singapore Super Series Results
Tine Takes Euro Title
Denmark dominance of European badminton was proved yet again with finalists in 4 of the 5 final in Manchester today, only the women’s doubles finalist was certain to have a non-Danish winner.
Mens Singles:
The top 2 seeds met in the men’s singles final in an All-Danish affair between Peter Gade and Jan O Jorgensen. The opening game started off evenly, with neither player about to create a gap of any merit. Towards the middle of the opening game, Peter Gade begun to string runs of 3 and 4 points together to create a sizable gap that Jorgensen was unable to pull back, Gade served out the opening game from 19-14 to win the opener.
The second game started well for Jorgensen, taking an early 6-2 advantage before the 4-time European champion strung 8 consecutive points together to take a 10-6 lead in the game. Jorgensen fought back to 10-12 but Gade reeled off another 7 point run to take a 19-10 lead which he was never going to give up and served out from 19-11 to take his fifth European title.
Women’s Singles
2nd seeded Tine Rasmussen was hoping to continue her excellent run of form in 2010 with a victory over 3rd seeded Juliane Schenk of Germany. However, the opening game was very much dominated by the German. Schenk led at 17-12 before Rasmussen brought it back level at 17-17 and the momentum was with the Dane for the remainder of the game, with Rasmussen taking the opening game 21-19.
Schenk response in the second game was fantastic however, domination the game much like the first but this time continued to score points late on in the game and the German levelled the match, winning the second game 21-14. The first part of the third game was very nervy and tight, with neither player being able to pull out a gap. At 13-12, Rasmussen managed to pull out a 4 point gap to 16-12, a gap that Schenk was never able to pull back after saving 2 match points previously, Rasmussen finished the job with her third match point, winning the final game 21-19.
Men’s Doubles:
There was another all-Danish final in the men’s doubles as the rematch from the All-England final between Paaske and Rasmussen playing Boe and Mogensen. The top seeded Boe and Mogensen were keen to avenge their All-England defeat but the second seeded Paaske and Rasmussen led throughout the opening game, but squandered three game points at 20-17 to allow the top seeds back into the opening game. They received two more opportunities to win the opening game before converting on their sixth attempt to take the game 24-22.
The second game was a complete role reversal, with Boe and Mogensen dominating the game before failing to convert on two game points at 20-18. Paaske and Rasmussen put together a run of 4 points from 20-18 to win the second game 22-20 and take the European crown to add to their All-England title.
Women’s Doubles:
The top two seeds met in the final, with three of the four players coming from Russia. The second seeded Russian duo of Nina Vislova and Valeria Sorokina had failed to drop a game on route to the final and that record remained unchanged with a fabulous display against the top seeded Nedelcheva and Russkikh, winning 21-18, 21-14 in just under three quarters of an hour.
Mixed Doubles:
Another clash of the top two seeds took place in the mixed doubles final between World Champions Laybourn and Rytter Juhl of Denmark and the 2009 Hong Kong Super Series winners, Mateusiak and Kostiuczyk of Poland. The match was three games of dominating badminton, with few lead changes throughout the games. The Danish pair dominated the opening game, with the second seeded Poles never leading in the opening game that they lost 21-19. The second game was a complete reverse, with the Polish pair dominating the second game, allowing the Danes to lead only twice in the entire second game at 1-0 and 6-5. Mateusiak and Kostiuczyk took the second game 21-18 to set up a third game.
The final game was a mirror of the first game, with the Danish pair leading from the start and not letting the Polish pair have a chance to take any kind of lead in the game. The 2nd seeds pulled it back to 13-12 before the world champions strung together 8 consecutive points to add the European title to their world crown, winning the match 21-19, 18-21, 21-12 in exactly one hour.
European Badminton Championships 2010 Final Results
Gade Moves On To Semi-Finals
The English interest in the tournament is down to just three, whilst the Danish and German teams have plenty of interest in most of the events going into the weekend.
Mens Singles:
Top seed Peter Gade was in fine form after his 3 game scare against Raul Must yesterday, his opponent was the 8th seeded Carl Baxter of England for a place in the last 4. 35 minutes is all it took for Gade to win the match by the score of 21-14, 21-11. The top seed Dane will play Marc Zweibler of Germany in the semi final after the German 3rd seed beat 5th seeded Dicky Palyama in their quarterfinal match. After dropping the opening game, Zweibler battled back to take the match 19-21, 21-10, 21-16.
The other semi final is between the 2nd seeded Jan O Jorgensen, who defeated fellow Dane Joachim Persson in his quarterfinal 21-13, 21-17 to reach the last 4. He plays the 4th seeded Englishman Rajiv Ouseph after he defeated the final unseeded player in the draw, Ireland’s Scott Evans in three games 15-21, 23-21, 21-12, with Scott Evans having a match point at 21-20 in the second game.
Women’s Singles
Pi Hongyan continues to live up to her top seed with a three game victory over the 5th seeded Petya Nedelcheva, winning 21-15, 14-21, 21-12 to book her place in the semi final against Juliane Schenk of Germany, who beat the 7th seeded Judith Meulendijks in three games also, winning 21-16, 16-21, 21-15 to set up the first semi final.
The second semi final sees the 6th seeded Ella Diehl take on the 2nd seeded Tine Rasmussen. The Russian defeated 4th seeded Jie Yao in two games, 21-18, 21-17 to set up a match against the Danish 2nd seeded. She defeated Scotland’s Susan Egelstaff in two games also, 21-8, 21-16.
Doubles:
The Danish domination in the men’s doubles continues, with all 3 seeded pairs safely progressing to the last 4 without the loss of a game at the quarterfinal stage. They are joined the semi finals by the German pair of Michael Fuchs and Ingo Kindervater, who defeated Peter Mills and Marcus Ellis of England in three games to progress to the last 4.
3 of the 4 seeds are still in the women’s doubles draw, with only the 3rd seeded French pair of Choinet and Rasadi falling to English pair Agathangelou and Olver in three games. The unseeded English ladies play top seeds Nedelcheva and Russkikh for a place in Sunday’s final. The other semi final is between Danes Damkjear Kruse and Schjott-Kristensen, seeded 4 and Vislova and Sorokina of Russia, seeded 2.
The top three seeds in the mixed doubles have been joined in the semi finals by Belgian duo Claes and Descamps, they defeated Kindervater and Overzier in three games to set up a match against top seeded Laybourn and Rytter Juhl of Denmark. The other semi final is between Poland’s Mateusiak and Kostiuczyk and England’s Robertson and Wallwork, with both pairs coming through their quarterfinal matches in two games.
Clark Withdraws
The doubles competitions began play this morning in Manchester, as well the 3rd round of the singles, with no more seeds falling in either event. The big news of the day for the local fans was Anthony Clark’s withdrawal from both doubles events.
Mens Singles:
Peter Gade is through to the last 8, but was forced to work for his win against Raul Must of Estonia. The Estonian shocked the top seed and took the second game to set up a 3rd game, but after 69 minutes the top seed progressed into tomorrow’s quarterfinals, winning 21-15, 19-21, 21-18. Gade will play Carl Baxter in the last 8, after the English 8th seed defeated Jan Vondra 21-16, 21-9 in his 3rd round match today.
There also wins for Rajiv Ouseph and Dicky Palyama, both players winning in three games to book their place in the last 8. England were hopeful of a 3rd player in the last 8 as Andrew Smith took on Marc Zweibler of Germany in the last 16, but after sharing the opening 10 points, Zweibler took the next 8 before Andrew Smith retired through injury trailing 13-5 in the first game.
The last unseeded player in the draw is Ireland’s Scott Evans, who plays Rajiv Ouseph in the last 8 tomorrow. The 4th quarterfinal is an all-Danish affair, with Joachim Persson (Seeded 6) playing Jan O Jorgensen (Seeded 2) for a place in Saturday’s semi final.
Women’s Singles
All 8 seeds have safely progressed into the last 8, with only 6th seed Ella Diehl dropping a game so far. Pi Hongyan continues to dominate her half of the draw, today defeating Camilla Sorensen of Denmark, 21-18, 21-5 to book her place against Petya Nedelcheva, who defeated England’s Elizabeth Cann 21-13, 21-13 to progress into tomorrow’s quarterfinal.
Juliane Schenk will play Judith Meulendijks tomorrow in the second quarterfinal, 3rd seeded Schenk defeated Switzerland’s Jeanine Cicognini 21-19, 21-9 whilst 7th seeded Meulendijks beat Iceland’s Ranga Ingolfsdottir 21-15, 21-10 to book her place in tomorrow’s quarter final.
The bottom half of the draw sees Ella Diehl, seeded 6th play Yao Jie of the Netherlands for a place in the last 4. The Dutch 4th seed beat Karin Schnaase of Germany 21-16, 21-7 to progress whist the 6th seeded Russian had to come from a game down to beat England’s Helen Davies 17-21, 21-16, 21-11.
Susan Egelstaff, seeded 8 is through to play Tine Rasmussen of Denmark, the 2nd seed in the last of the quarterfinals tomorrow. Both ladies have failed to drop a game getting to this stage of the competition, with Susan Egelstaff dropping 4 less points to this stage and been on court just 3 minutes less than her Danish opponent.
Doubles:
In the Men’s Doubles, all 3 of the seeded Danish pairs have safely made into the last 8. Only the pre-tournament withdrawal of the 3rd seeded Robertson and Clark means that there isn’t a full compliment of seeds in the last 8. However there is English interest still, with Peter Mills and Marcus Ellis through to the last 8 to play German pair Michael Fuchs and Ingo Kindervater.
All 4 seeds in the Women’s Doubles are through, with neither of the four pairs losing a game on route to the last 8. The top seeded Nedelcheva and Russkikh play Frier Kristiansen and Ropke of Denmark, who progressed to the last 8 with a 21-10, 21-1 win over their Greek opponents in Round 2. The 2nd seeded Russian duo of Vislova and Sorokina play the Scottish pair of Emma Mason and Imogen Bankier who failed to drop a game in both their matches today.
Only 4 seeds remain from the 8 that begun the mixed doubles, top seeds and current world champions Laybourn and Rytter Juhl safely progressed through both matches today to reach the last 8 and are the only seed remaining in the top half of the draw after losing Middleton and Agathangelou (Seeded 6), Durkin and Vislova (Seeded 4) and Adcock and White (Seeded 7) in the opening round this morning. Jenny Wallwork and Nathan Robertson are the last English pair left in the competition, the 3rd seeds play Sorokina and Nikolaenko of Russia for a place in the last 4.
Gade to Face Lin Dan
Limited success last week does not guarantee success this week in Basel, Switzerland as several seeds and some unseeded threats have crashed out on day 2.
Mens Singles:
Last week’s beaten finalist will not make it a repeat performance this week as Du Pengyu defeated the Japanese player 21-12, 21-18 to book his place in the last 8. He will play Hu Yun of Hong Kong in the quarterfinal after he defeated Dicky Palyama in three games to progress through. Tien Minh Nguyen has put his early exit last week behind to book his place in the last 8 with a two-game victory over Carl Baxter of England.
Nguyen’s opponent in the last 8 is the 3rd seed, Chen Jin. The Chinese player defeated Joachim Persson in two games to progress into tomorrow’s quarterfinals. Chen Long has also put his early defeat in last week’s All England to the back of his mind as he progressed to the quarterfinals to play against Kazushi Yamada, who defeated the 4th seed Taufik Hidayat in two games to play in tomorrow’s quarterfinals.
The last of the quarterfinals is the match of the day for tomorrow, as 2nd seed Lin Dan takes over 5th seed, Peter Gade. The Chinese 2nd seed has been in excellent form in the opening two rounds with comfortable two game victories and the same can be said for Gade, who defeated Park Sung Hwan 21-15, 21-16 to progress into the last 8.
Women’s Singles
Wang Yihan suffered a surprise 21-17, 24-22 loss in the second round to Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong who will now go on to play Wang Shixian, the 6th seed from China for a place in Saturday’s semi final.
2nd seed Jiang Yanjiao has been the story of the opening two rounds, with her stunning 21-7, 21-3 win in round 1 over Susan Egelstaff of Scotland and her 21-16, 21-5 victory over Chen Hsiao Huan of Chinese Taipei making a real threat in the competition, she will play 8th seeded Juliane Schenk of Germany in the last 8 after the German defeated Bae Seung Hee of Korea to progress.
3rd seeded Pi Hongyan is also through after defeated her second Japanese opponent in two days, today Ai Goto was defeated 21-19, 21-18. Unseeded Bae Joun Joo is the French 3rd seed opponent for tomorrow after winning the all-Korean clash against Kim Moon Hi 22-20, 21-17.
World Champion Lu Lan is through the last 8 with a 21-15, 21-13 win over Eriko Hirose of Japan. She will play unseeded Russian Ella Diehl in the quarterfinal after Diehl defeated Switzerland’s Jeannine Cicognini 21-19, 21-17 to book her place in the last 8.
Mens Doubles:
Paaske and Rasmussen continue their superb run of form over the past few weeks as they reached the quarterfinals with a two game victory over Fuchs and Kindervater. Top seeded Koo and Tan are also through to the last 8 after defeating Bonde and Mollyhus 21-15, 21-11. The top seeds will play unseeded Korean duo of Kim and Shin for a place in the last 4.
Women’s Doubles:
The final 8 partnerships in the women’s doubles are the 8 seeds, almost unheard of at this level. Top seeds Chin and Wong will play 5th seeds Maeda and Suetsuna for a place in the last 4 against the winners of Ha and Lee of Korea, seeded 8 and Nedelcheva and Russkikh, the 4th seeds.
Chen and Chien, the Chinese Taipei 3rd seeds will play Chinese 6th seeds Du and Pan for a place in the last 4 against the winners of the 7thseeds Tian and Yu against Fujii and Kakiiwa of Japan, the 2nd seeds and Korean Super Series runners-up.
Mixed Doubles:
It is another shock early defeat for Zheng Bo and Ma Jin in the mixed doubles, losing out to unseeded Chen and Chen of Chinese Taipei 21-14, 21-16. They will play another unseeded pair in the quarterfinal, Shin and Yoo of Korean who defeated another Korean couple, the 8th seeded Ko and Ha to progress into the last 8.
World Champions and 3rd seeds, Laybourn and Rytter Juhl are also through after a stunning 21-4, 21-8 victory of Dutch qualifiers Khodabux and Barning. They will play the unseeded Chinese pair of Zhang and Tian, Zhang winning the mixed doubles last week with Zhao Yunlei.
7th seeds Mateusiak and Kostiuczyk of Poland are also through and will play the 2nd of 3 Korean pairs left in the draw, Yoo and Kim. The final match tomorrow pits the 5th seeded Chinese pair of Tao and Zhang against the 2nd seeded Korean duo Lee and Lee, the 3rd Korean partnership left in the draw.
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