Pang Defeats Axelsen
Whilst Viktor Axelsen’s quest for title number 2 ended at the hands of Eric Pang, there was delight for India as they guaranteed themselves a place in the men’s singles final. Ajay Jayaram continued his excellent run whilst Anand Pawar defeated Ireland’s Scott Evans in just over an hour to book his place in the all-Indian semi final. Chetan Anand could not make it 3 Indians in the last 4, as he lost out to Sho Sasaki of Japan.
The big local hope is in the women’s singles, as Yao Jie made it through to the last 4 with a three-game victory over Ukraine’s Larisa Griga. She takes on Ai Goto of Japan, who defeated Pai Hsiao Ma in two games. The second semi final is an all-German affair with 2nd seed Juliane Schenk taking on Olga Konon after both came through comfortably in two games in their quarter finals.
The shock in the men’s doubles was the defeat of 6th seeded Endo and Hayakawa to unseeded German pairing of Schottler and Kindervater, losing 24-22 in the third game. The other seeded Japanese pairs had little trouble, with both the top seeded Hashimoto and Hirata as well as Sato and Kawamae making it through to set up a semi final clash against each other.
Wengberg and Lennartsson ended the 4th seeded Jonathans and Van Dooremalen’s dreams of a home victory to join the top 3 seeds in the semi finals of the women’s doubles. Both top seeds Fujii and Kakiiwa as well as 2nd seeded Vislova and Sorokina won in two games, with Matsuo and Naito coming through in three games to book their place in the last 4.
Japan will definitely have a finalist in the mixed doubles, with 3rd seeded Ikeda and Shiota defeating Vislova and Durkin in their quarter final and in the all-Japanese quarter final, the 6th seeded Hayakawa and Matsuo progressed through. The top half of the draw has local interest in Bosch and Jonathans, they take on the 4th seeded Nikolaenko and Sorokina of Russia in the semi final.
Picture Provided by Rene Lagerwaard
Pang Stands In Axelsen's Way
More seeds toppled as the 16 seeds that started the men’s singles has become just 5, with three unseeded players putting their names into the equation. Russia’s Ivan Sozonov defeated the last Danish seed in the draw, Christian Lind Thomsen in three games to leave Viktor Axelsen as the last Dane in the draw. His stunning 21-10, 21-7 win over the 15th seeded Pablo Abian is a real statement of intent for this week, he takes on 6th seeded Eric Pang in the last 8. Ajay Jayaram is the last of the unseeded trio, defeating 13th seeded Kestutis Navickas in two games to set up a match with Sozonov in the quarters.
The women’s singles boasts the same quota of seeds at the last 8 stage. Unseeded Chinese Taipei player Pai Hsiao Ma takes on the 3rd seeded Ai Goto in the quarters whilst the other two unseeded players face of in the 3rd of the quarter finals, as Iceland’s Ragna Ingolfsdottir takes on the newly nationalised Olga Konon of Germany, formerly of Poland. Yao Jie came through a tough test against Karina Jorgensen of Denmark to set up a match with Larisa Griga of Ukraine. The 4th quarter final sees Juliane Schenk take on Anastasia Prokopenko for a place in the last 4.
The men’s doubles got underway today and after two rounds there is a Japanese presence to the final 8, with 4 of the pairs being from Japan. All four pairs could make the last 4 as they all play in different quarter finals. Top seeded Hashimoto and Hirata take on Danes Elbjorn and Skovgaard in the first of tomorrow’s quarter finals.The 5th seeded Endo and Hayakawa take on the experience German pair of Kindervater and Schottler. The third of the seeded Japanese pairs, 3rd seeded Sato and Kawamae have the tough task of taking on the 8th seeded Russians, Durkin and Nikolaenko. The 4th Japanese pair, unseeded Hirobe and Kazuno take on the 2nd seeded Ellis and Mills of England.
The women’s doubles opening round was a brief affair, with all 8 of the matches being won in two games. All 4 of the seeded pairs are through to the last 8, with the top seeds Fujii and Kakiiaw and 3rd seeded Matuso and Naito giving the draw another Japanese vibe to it. The Japanese vibe continues in the mixed doubles, but it is without the top seeded Japanese pair, Hashimoto and Fujii losing out to the Dutch pairing of Bosch and Jonathans, leaving the Russian pair of Nikolaenko and Sorokina as the highest seeds in the top half of the draw, as the 4th seeds. The bottom half of the mixed draw is littered with Japanese pairings. Only the 7th seeded Russian pairing of Vislova and Durkin break into a Japanese monopoly, led by their quarter final opponents, Ikeda and Shiota who are seeded 2 for the event. The final match of the quarters is an all-Japanese affair between the 6th seeded Hayakawa and Matsuo and unseeded pair Hirobe and Matsutomo,
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.
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.
Gade Moves To Last 8
Day two started with the completion of Round 1’s matches, with the likes of Lu Lan, Tien Minh Nguyen and Peter Gade playing their opening matches of the competition and potentially their first of two matches today. The three seeded players had little trouble in booking their places into Round 2.
Round 2 began at 2pm local time, with all of the games expecting to be played and the tournament to be back on schedule. There was trouble for Widianto and Natsir in their second round match against Ahmad and Polii after losing the opening game, only to bounce back and take the next two games and book their place in the last 8. There was also wins for Gunawan and Marissa in the mixed doubles as the 3rd seed beat the local pairing of Saputra and Yao in three games. Current world champions Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl defeated the English pairing of Olver and Clark in two games to book their place in the last 8 also.
Joachim Persson’s excellent win yesterday would be his last win this week as 7th seeded Sony Kuncoro defeated the Danish player in two games to book his place in the last 8. Dicky Palyama continues his recent run of good form as he progressed into the quarter final stage with a simple two game win. Tien Minh Nguyen’s second match of the day was against Kashrap Parupalli of India and the Vietnamese player never got into the game and lost in two games, 23-21, 21-8. There was another scare for Lee Chong Wei as he was taken to three games for the second time this week, only to come through and set up a quarter final match against Sony Kuncoro. Peter Gade’s second match of the day was against Carl Baxter of England, the 9 hour break for Gade was enough for the Dane to recharge his batteries and comfortably defeat Baxter 21-8, 21-13 to book his place in the last 8.
Top seed in the Women’s Singles Saina Nehwal had a harder time than yesterday against Ell Diehl, however the top seed Indian came through in two close games to reach the last 8. There were wins for Yao Jie, Korean teenager Bae Youn Joo and Chinese unknown Li Xuerui to book their places in the quarter final. Lu Lan also came through her second match of the day in a tight three set encounter against Judith Meulendijks, winning the 3rd game 23-21 to book her place in the last 8. The top two seeds in the Women’s Doubles both crashed out at the second round, the top seeded Maeda and Suetsuna losing out to Gutta and Ponnappa of India. The 2nd seeded Fujii and Kakiiwa lost out to Indonesian’s Jauhari and Polii.
Thursday’s Full Singapore Super Series Results
Gade Sneaks Past Park
Men’s Singles
Lee Chong Wei and Boonsak Ponsana began the play in the men’s singles events on the TV Court on Day 3 with a play for the semi finals up for grabs. However, the match was dominated by the top seed as he comfortable beat the 8th seeded Thai player 21-14, 21-10 to set up a semi final clash against the other quarter final in progress. That quarterfinal was between Chen Jin and Tien Minh Nguyen, but again the higher seeded player dominated the match, with Chen Jin coming up on top 21-7, 21-19 to set up a semi final match with Lee Chong Wei.
The lower half of the draw only saw one match being played, as Bao Chunlai pulled out of his match against 7th seeded Chen Long allowing a free pass into the semi final to face the winner of Peter Gade and Park Sung Hwan. The crowd were treated to a 79-minute match of high quality, with the 2nd seeded Gade pulling out the win 17-21, 21-16, 22-20 in the longest match of the day by almost 30 minutes.
Semi Finals:
Lee Chong Wei (1) v Chen Jin (3)
Chen Long (7) v Peter Gade (2)
Women’s Singles
The opening two matches on court in the women’s singles had some local interest with the potential of an unlikely all-Korean semi final. Sung Ji Hyun, who defeated Tine Rasmussen yesterday, took out another seed today. This time it was 7th seed Yao Jie with almost the same score as yesterday, 21-17, 21-16. Could Bae Seung Hee make it an all-Korean final?
The chances looked good, as the Korean took the opening game against Yip Pui Yin, who defeated the 4th seeded Juliane Schenk. Bae Sueng Hee completed the job in the second game, winning it 21-10 to see up an all-Korean match tomorrow.
The bottom half of the draw had another Korean player in the draw, with Hi Kim Moon on court against Chan Tsz Ka in the 3rd quarter final. In one of the quickest games of the day, Hi Kim Moon booked her place in the semi final with a 21-13, 21-10 win. The fourth quarter final was an all-seeded affair, with Zhou Mi, seeded 2 playing Wang Shixian, seeded 6.
The Chinese 6th seed took the opening game 21-18 and was 14-9 up in the second game before the second seed retired through injury.
Semi Finals:
Sung Ji Hyun v Bae Sueng Hee
Hi Kim Moon v Wang Shixian (6)
Other Matches:
Only 3rd seeded He and Yu remain in the mixed doubles of the 8 seeds that started the event, the 4th, 6th and 7th seeds all falling to unseeded couples in two games. Tao and Zhang, the couple that defeated Lee and Lee took out world champions Laybourn and Rytter Juhl 21-12, 21-15 to book their place in the last 4.
The women’s doubles has lost all of it’s seeds apart from the top 2, with the 3rd and 6th seeds going out today. Lee and Ha, unseeded Korean pair defeated Lee and Choi 21-9, 21-3 to set up a match against top seeded Chinese pair of Cheng and Zhao. Another Korean pair, Jung and Yoo will play the second seeded Japanese pairing of Pujii and Kakiiwa.
Two seeds remain in the men’s doubles also, with Lee and Jung seeded 1 beating Kim and Shin 21-14, 22-20 to book their place in the last 4 against Chai and Zhang of China. The other half of the draw sees unseeded Japanese pair of Endo and Hirobe, won defeated 3rd seeded Chandra and Gunawan 21-14, 21-7 in just 18 minutes play Cai and Fu of China. The 5th seeds beating the Danish 2nd seeded Boe and Mogensen 21-16, 15-21, 21-18 to book their place in the semi final.
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Peter Gade Masters Finals
The group stages have been completed and eight have been whittled down four for the knockout stages.
Men’s Singles:
Lee Chong Wei (Winner Group A) vs. Peter Gade (Runner-Up Group B)
Both were expected to win their group, but Gade’s loss to Park Sung Hwan forced him into a final match decider with Boonsak Ponsana to ensure qualification, which he won in a 3-game 66-minute thriller. Lee Chong Wei has had little trouble in his progression to the last 4, winning all three matches in just two games, winning 126 points and losing just 66 en route to the semi final stage.
Park Sung Hwan (Winner Group B) vs. Bao Chunlai (Runner-Up Group A)
The Korean won the group on a head-to-head against Gade and had his place secured in two matches, however his loss to Jan Jorgensen will give Bao Chunlai hope of a victory. The Chinese player had secured his place in two matches also, but an emphatic defeat to Lee Chong Wei will be difficult to bounce back from.
Women’s Singles:
Wong Mew Choo (Winner Group A) vs. Jie Yao (Runner-Up Group B)
Wong Mew Choo surprised us all with her three-game win over Saina Newhal and has gone from strength to strength with two crushing victories to top Group A convincingly. Jie Yao had to win her final match to ensure her place in the last 4, a task that was done in two games. Her two-game defeat to Juliane Schenk does leave question marks on whether she will have enough to defeat Wong Mew Choo.
Juliane Schenk (Winner Group B) vs. Saina Nehwal (Runner-Up Group A)
Juliane Schenk comes into the semi-final on the back of a three-game loss to Salakjit Ponsana, not the best preparation for a match against the top seed of the event. Her previous two matches were routine two-game wins and will need to find that form again to beat Nehwal. The Indian top seed needed a victory in her final group match to ensure her qualification, two games and 33 minutes later and her place in the last 4 was booked.
Men’s Doubles:
Xu Chen / Guo Zhendong (Winner Group A) vs. Carsten Mogensen / Mathias Boe (Runner-Up Group B)
Jung Jae Sung / Lee Yong Dae (Winner Group B) vs. Mohd Fairuzisuan Mohd Tazari / Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif (Runner-Up Group A)
The Chinese pair has been the surprise of the Men’s doubles draw, winning their group without losing a match, their match against the second seeded Danish duo Mogensen and Boe will probably be their biggest test to date.
The Korean pair have been fantastic in their progression to the last 4, winning all three matches in two games. They will be on a high after their two-game win over second seeded Mogensen and Boe to secure top spot.
Super Series Masters Finals 2009 Draws
Bao Chunlai
Day 2 was a day for yesterday’s losers to play themselves back into contention and for the winners on Day 1 to secure their place in the last 4. Group A in the men’s singles has been decided with one match to spare, as Bao Chunlai and Lee Chong Wei securing their second victory and will play each other tomorrow for the top spot in the group.
Group B still has three players in contention for just two spots; Park Sung Hwan has secured his place in the last 4 with wins over Jan Jorgensen and Peter Gade today in three games. Gade and Boonsak Ponsana play tomorrow for the final qualifying place in Group B.
Wong Mew Choo has secured her progression from Group A of the women’s singles with two wins from her opening two games. Saina Newhal and Porntip Buranaprasertsuk play tomorrow with the winner taking the second place in Group A and qualification to the last 4.
Group B is a tighter affair, with three players capable of qualifying. Juliane Schenk will progress if she wins one game over Salakjit Ponsana. Jie Yao is the third player in with a chance of qualifying and needs to secure a win if Ponsana wins or a Ponsana loss secures her place in the last 4.
Group A of the women’s doubles has one confirmed qualifier in Chin and Wong of Malaysia, Rytter Juhl and Kristiansen will play Reid and Grether tomorrow with the winner taking the second qualifying spot.
Group B has been settled with a round of matches still to be played, Cheng and Chien as well as Aroonkesorn and Voravichitchaikul have both progressed to the last 4 with two wins each and will play each other to determine top spot tomorrow.
Super Series Masters Finals 2009 Draws/Results
Jan O Jorgensen
Since his superb performance last month in Denmark where the young Dane defeated his veteran counterpart Peter Gade, all eyes have been fixed on Jan O Jorgensen. Today he improved upon his performance by defeating world number one Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia. Jorgensen came out with guns blazing, winning the first game 21-6. Things looked bad though when Lee came back in the second game winning with a less impressive, but still confident 21-13 scoreline. However, the day was to be the Danes as he won the final game 21-17 to add yet another super star to his list of conquests. From here on out it only gets easier for the Dane, but these next rounds will still be a test for his mental strength as there are no easy rounds in the Super Series events.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckEBLtZjkVE[/youtube]
With Peter Gade and Taufik Hidayat withdrawn the draw looks somewhat lighter, nonetheless there are still some big names remaining. Lin Dan defeated his teammate Bao Chunlai rather comfortably in spite of a challenge in the second game 21-12, 21-19. Lin Dan will now play Chen Long in the second round. England’s Andrew Smith pushed eighth seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro, forcing a third game but eventually fell 23-21, 14-21, 21-16. A notable win for the day was Wong Choong Han who managed to break his recent slump by beating Hu Yun from Hong Kong 21-15, 21-16.
It was overwhelmingly a day for China today in the women’s singles, all nine of their players advanced to the second round, upsetting Pi Hongyan, Wang Chen, and Yao Jie along the way. Denmark’s Tine Rasmussen stands as the last remaining representative from outside of Asia.
The Danes have also been going strong in the men’s doubles with all three of their pairings winning their first rounds matches, but the next round will prove more challenging as Kasper Henriksen Faust and Anders Kristiansen will now face the top seeded Malaysians Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong.
Play resumes tomorrow at 1:00pm when Wang Yihan faces Wong Mew Choo in the women’s singles.
China Super Series 2009 Draws
In spite of a strong effort from the youngster, Jan O Jorgensen was unable to repeat his performance against Danish veteran Peter Gade today. After a close win in the first game it looked as though it might happen, but Gade was too strong in the end for Jorgensen taking the match 21-23, 21-16, 21-14. Jorgensen is definitely a threat to the top position in Denmark, but for the time being he’ll have to wait.
Elsewhere in the men’s singles there is another potential changing of the guard as Simon Santoso crushed his veteran teammate Taufik Hidayat in two very short games 21-13, 21-6. Next up Santoso will have to face Gade in his quarter-final match tomorrow. The other notable upset today came from yet another young Indonesian when qualifier Dionysius Rumbaka just pummeled Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Yu Hsin 21-13, 21-9. Tomorrow he can look forward to playing China’s last remaining men’s singles player Bao Chunlai.
In spite of a close match for Wang Lin in the second round, the Chinese women are fairing much better than the Chinese men in Hong Kong. The top seed had to work for her quarter-final place against Zhang Beiwen from Singapore, winning 20-22, 21-16, 21-14. Wang is among five Chinese women remaining at the quarter-finals stage. The Chinese dominance was unfortunate for Europe as Pi Hongyan remains as the last standing representative after both Yao Jie and Tine Rasmussen were knocked out.
Tomorrow promises some excellent matches in Hong Kong so be sure to check back for more results from the Hong Kong Super Series 2009
Hong Kong Super Series 2009 Draws
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