Boonsak Ponsana began the men’s singles play for the day against Korean Hong Ji Hoon, the eighth seed spent 45 minutes disposing of his tricky opponent but completed the task 21-18, 21-16. Lee Chong Wei and Chen Jin took to the court within 10 minutes of each other in the next men’s singles matches, both against tricky European opponents.
Lee Chong Wei played Marc Zweibler whilst Chen Jin played Dicky Palyama. Both seeded players came through their matches in two games, with Lee Chong Wei winning 21-18, 21-8 and Chen Jin winning 21-14, 21-17. Lee Chong Wei would play Boonsak Ponsana in the quarterfinals.
Tien Minh Nguyen survived an epic 82-minute test against Du Pengyu of China to progress to the quarter finals, his 25-23, 15-21, 21-19 win was the longest match of the day by far, he plays Chen Jin in the last 8 tomorrow.
The bottom half of the draw had China’s Bao Chunlai and Chen Long in action at the same time to book their places in the last 8. Kazushi Yamada proved little opposition to Chen Long, as the 7th seed from China won 21-17, 21-12. Bao Chunlai faced a stiffer test from England’s Carl Baxter, but the 4th seeded progressed in two games, 21-17, 21-18.
The final two seeds on court were Peter Gade and local favourite Park Sung Hwan. The 2nd seed Gade had Rajiv Ouseph of England, whilst Kuan Beng Hong would play the 5th seeded Korean. Both matches were completed in two games, with both seeds progressing to tomorrow’s quarterfinal stage. Gade winning 23-21, 22-20 against Ouseph and Park Sung Hwan won 21-15, 21-14 to set up a clash between the two tomorrow.
Seeds Remaining: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.
Sung Ji Hyun pulled off the shock of day 2 with her sensational win over top seed Tine Rasmussen in two games, the unseeded Korean winning 21-15, 21-16 to book her place in the last 8. She will play Yao Jie in the quarterfinal after the 7th seed from Netherlands won a tight three game match against Yu Hirayama 21-16, 20-22, 21-19, a match that lasted 65 minutes.
Zhou Mi is now the top seed remaining in the draw, after fighting back from losing the opening game to defeat Tai Tzu Ying 21-23, 21-16, 21-10. It was another unlikely Korean victory in the match featuring 5th seeded Wang Xin of China, with Bae Seung Hee winning 21-12, 21-14.
Two unseeded players were guaranteed to progress from the next two matches, with Chan Tsz Ka defeating Petya Nedelcheva 21-9, 13-21, 21-19. She will play Hi Kim Moon, the winner of the all-Korean match against Kang Hae Won 21-15, 21-17.
The final two matches featured 4th seeded Juliane Schenk and Wang Shixian, the 6th seed from China. Juliane Schenk looked to be coasting into the quarters after winning her opening game 21-4, only to sensationally collapse and lose the next two games against Yip Pui Yin to lose the match 4-21, 21-16, 21-18. Wang Shixian had little problem defeating Finland’s Any Nieminen 21-14, 21-10.
Seeds remaining: 2, 6 and 7.
Lee Yong Dae bounced back from his mixed doubles exit to progress into the quarter finals of the men’s doubles with partner Jung Jae Sung, defeating Jin and Kim in an all-Korean affair 21-13, 21-9. Petya Nedelcheva’s bad day continued, as she and Anastasia Russkikh, seeded 5th in the women’s doubles crashed out to Matsuo and Naito of Japan today.
Cai and Fu are at their ominous best, defeating Faust Henriksen and Kristiansen of Denmark, 21-10, 21-7 in just 23 minutes. 4th seeded Danish pair Paaske and Rasmussen were also defeated by Chai and Zhang to further compound a bad day in the Danish camp.
Play begins tomorrow at 3pm, with the 4 mixed doubles quarter finals.
The first round of the Korean Super Series provided it’s fair share of shocks, but the big news was the defeat of local superstars Lee and Lee in the mixed doubles to Zhang and Tao in two games, 21-13 and 21-16. They weren’t the only seed to crash out in the mixed doubles, with 5th seeded Mateusiak and Kostiuczyk losing in three games.
Lee Chong Wei breezed into round 2 with a clinical 21-4, 21-14 win over England’s Andrew Smith, Peter Gade is also into round 2 with a two game win over Chong Wei Feng of Malaysia 21-19, 21-17. There were wins for Chen Jin, Chen Long and Park Sung Hwan to delight the local crowd.
Tine Rasmussen is through to round 2 of the women’s singles, the Danish top seed defeated Sayaka Sato of Japan 21-14, 21-16 to secure her place in the last 16. Second seeded Zhou Mi survived losing the first game to defeat Wong Mew Choo to book her place in round 2. There were also wins for 4th seeded Juliane Schenk and 7th seeded Yai Jie to ensure some competitive European interest going into the later half of the week. Only 8th seeded Salakjit Ponsana failed to progress into round 2 of the seeds.
Lee Yong Dae will look to put today’s defeat behind him as himself and Jung Jae Sung are top seeds in the men’s doubles and an all-Korean clash in round 2 will be one of the highlights of tomorrow’s play for the local crowd.
The draws for the French Open Super Series have been released, and from the looks of things the only big name missing from the men’s singles is Lee Chong Wei. Now, of course that is a very big name, but certainly with Lin Dan in the mix we can expect some excellent badminton. Lin Dan will be seeded first, and on the opposite side of the draw we have Peter Gade as second seed. In the second round we will have a rematch between Gade and Jan O Jorgensen, and after losing to Jorgensen last week in Odense you can be sure that he will be ready for another fight. It will be much more difficult for Marc Zwiebler to replicate last week’s great run in Paris as he has to face Chen Jin in the first round, but with some new found confidence perhaps Chen Jin has something to be worried about.
With the Chinese team back in full force the womens singles is also jam packed tough competition. Wang Lin is back and is first seed, although Hong Kong’s Zhou Mi has withdrawn for unknown reasons. Denmark’s Tine Rasmussen is the fourth seed, and she will meet her first big test in the quarters against Jiang Yanjiao. Wang Yihan will be the third seed and she has to face the strong youngster Wang Xin in the first round.
For the full draws visit the link below:
French Open Super Series 2009 Draws
The draw in Japan left a real chance of seeds falling today, with potential shocks with Boonsak Ponsana against Lee Chong Wei in Round 1 being one of the matches of the day. Ponsana came into the event on the back of his Super Series Final defeat to Lin Dan and the Thai player was expected to trouble the world number 1.
That was simply not the case. Lee Chong Wei sailed into Round 2 with a 21-9, 21-15 victory. Joachim Persson, seeded 7 played Shon Wan Ho of Korea, a player showing promise in recent weeks. The Korean player took a set of Peter Gade just last week in the China Masters and continues his excellent form with a superb 21-13, 21-13 over Persson. He plays Bao Chunlai in Round 2.
The bottom half of the men’s draw has been decimating with Chen Jin’s withdrawal and Joachim Persson’s defeat, leaving just two seeds in the bottom half of the draw going into Round 2. The Women’s draw is none the better, with Wang Yihan the last seed left in the top half of the Women’s draw.
Zhou Mi’s half of the draw was a potentially easier one that she expected, the withdrawal of world champion Lu Lan and Xie Xingfang meant that only herself and Wang Yihan were seeded in the top half. Adriyanti Firdasari was her Round 1 opponent, three sets and 56 minutes later, the top seed tumbled out of the competition. Zhou Mi held a 16-12 lead in the third set, only to lose nine of the next eleven points. Half of the seeds in the Women’s singles are now out or withdrew pre-event. Salna Nehwal also failed to reach Round 2, with a three-set defeat against Jiang Yanjiao.
The event is littered with Chinese withdrawals, Lu Lan, Xie Xingfang, Cai and Fu, Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen to name a few.
The Men’s Doubles has also suffered its fair share of shocks in Round 1. Second seeds Tan and Koo losing to Japanese partnership of Hayakawa and Kazuno. The pair was seeded 14th at the World Championships. The story of the early rounds of the World Championships was Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan’s run at world title number two.
The pair put together some incredible victories to reach the quarterfinals; they have started their campaign with another outstanding win over Paaske and Rasmussen, the 6th seeds. The American partnership was never behind in the third set and play Hoshino and Kobayashi in Round 2.
Play begins on Thursday at midday local time.
Yonex Japan Open Super Series 2009 Draws
The first Super Series after the World Championships takes us to the homeland of 4 gold medallists in India last month. Lin Dan has improved his ranking after his world title but is still ranked just 4th for the event that starts on September 15.
Lin Dan begins his campaign against Rajiv Ouseph of England, who was part of the English team that pulled out of the World Championships. Lee Chong Wei remains top seed; he faces Christian Lind Thomsen of Denmark in Round 1. World silver medalist Chen Jin starts his campaign against Hong Ji Hoon of Korea.
Bao Chunlai will hope to put his nightmare in the World Championships behind him as he plays Alistair Casey of Scotland in Round 1 in front of a home crowd. The qualifying for the event is a Chinese-only affair, with 10 players hoping to make one of the 4 spots available to make the main draw.
Notably absent from the draw this week is the young rising star from Denmark, Jan O Jorgensen, after his strong performance at the recent World Championships. No word on why Jorgensen is not competing in this event.
Zhou Mi retains her number 1 seeding for the women’s singles and will play Jang Soo Young of Korea in the first round. World Champion Lu Lan plays Zhu Lin in an all-Chinese match in the opening round.
The Mens Doubles will be an event to watch as Lee and Jung are ranked 1 for the event, with Cai and Fu on the other side of the draw ranked 2. Another spectacular match would almost be guaranteed in front of a partisan Chinese support.
The Mixed Doubles is almost an all-Chinese draw with the obvious exceptions of Lee and Lee who are seeded 1 for the event. Anastasia Russkikh also appears in the draw, partnering Gan Teik Chai of Malaysia.
The tournament begins on September 15.
The unseeded dream ended today, with all 5 unseeeded singles players or partnerships defeated on the biggest day of the World Championships this year. Both top seeds in the singles crashed out within an hour of each other on Court 2, Xie Xingfang defeating Zhou Mi in two games to book her place in the Semi Finals, with Sony Dwi Kuncoro beating Lee Chong Wei in two games.
The day started so well for the Danish, with both mixed doubles partnerships making the Semi Finals. However the dream of a Danish winner in either of the singles ended today with Tine Rasmussen, Jan O Jorgensen and Peter Gade all losing at the quarterfinal stage.
Local hopes were dashed also with defeats to Saina Nehwal and doubles partnership Gutta and Valiyaveetil today. Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan also lost in 3 games today to 2nd seeded Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong.
Day 6 promises to be a great day, starting on Court 1 with the Mens Singles semi-final between Taufik Hidayat and Chen Jin. Court 2 begins with Lee and Lee playing Laybourn and Rytter Juhl of Denmark, with Lee and Lee being the last of the top seeds still in any of the events.
Sony Dwi Kuncoro playing Lin Dan third on Court 1, followed by Xie Xingfang and Pi Hongyan. Court 2 has two all-Chinese matches with Du Jing and Yu Yang playing Zhang Yawen and Zhao Tingting in the ladies doubles semi-finals. Then Lu Lan plays Wang Lin in the second ladies singles semi finals.
Play begins at 2pm on Day 6;
The round of 16 pitted seed against seed, with yet more shocks along the way. 4th seeded Wang Yihan crashed out to 11th seeded Juliane Schenk in two games, who plays Pi Hongyan of France, seeded 8.
Court 1 was also the stage to see top seeded Wong Pei Tty and Chin Eei Hui crash out of the Women’s Doubles to Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsuna, seeded 11 from Japan.
All of the 10 games on Court 2 ended in two sets, with the big shock of the day being Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan ending Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen’s chances of world title success.
Jan O Jorgensen’s superb form continued as he disposed of 16th seed Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand to book his place in the quarterfinals against Taufik Hidayat.
Day 5 begins with doubles on all three courts, followed by on Court 1 is the all-European Women’s Singles match between Juilane Schenk and Pi Hongyan. Chen Jin plays Simon Santoso third on court. Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan play Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong for a place in the semi finals.
Court 2 starts with top seeds Lee and Lee play Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen, followed by Ma Jin and Zheng Bo playing Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl. The last four matches on Court 2 are the highlight of the day, with Zhou Mi playing Xie Xingfang for a place in the semi finals of the singles.
Lee Chong Wei plays Sony Dwi Kuncoro, with the winner playing the match of the day, Lin Dan against Peter Gade. Play ends on Court 2 with local hero Saina Nehwal playing Wang Lin.
Court 3 has Tine Rasmussen playing Lu Lan of China, followed on court by Jan O Jorgensen against Taufik Hidayat. Of the 40 remaining players in all the competitions, 35 are seeded.
Play begins at 2pm on all three courts.
Once again more live blogging coverage from the world championships in India. There are going to be a lot of really great matches today, so stay here for all your updates!
Another day brought the number of seeds left in the respective draw tumbling, the biggest casualty of the day being 3rd Seeded Paaske and Rasmussen in the men’s doubles. However the top seeded male and female singles players have successfully made it into Round 3.
Lee Chong Wei defeated Nigerian Ola Fagbemi 21-11, 21-14 in just 22 minutes to secure his place in the last 16. He will play Tien Minh Nguyen, seeded 14 for the event and has claimed a famous victory over the top seed in Singapore just two months ago.
Zhou Mi also won in under 30 minutes, disposing of Australian Michelle Chan Ky to set up a last 16 match against Ai Goto of Japan. With 14 of the 16 seeds still left in the women’s draw, there’s still no clear favourite for the title.
The men’s draw still has 13 of its seeds in at the last 16 stage. Unseeded Dicky Palyama plays defending champion Lin Dan tomorrow and Kenichi Tago plays 13th seeded Simon Santoro in Round 3. Jan O Jorgensen’s win over 8th seeded Park Sung Hwan has booked him a place against 16th seed Boonsak Ponsana.
The Men’s doubles seeds have been decimated at this stage. Just 9 of the last 16 are seeded, with at least one unseeded partnership in the Quarter Finals. Cai and Fu, seeded 5 are now the highest seeds left on their side of the draw. Paaske and Rasmussen shock defeat to Han Sang Hoon and Shin Baek Choei has opened the top half of the draw greatly.
Jung and Lee have successfully made it through to the last 16, as well as second seeds Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong. Tony Gunawan and Howard Bach look in great form as they look to repeat their 2005 success.
The women’s doubles so far has seen every seed progress to the last 16 who started the event.
Day 4 starts with mixed doubles action, with the top 3 seeds all in action first on court. Court 2 sees Lin Dan take on Dicky Palyama as the second game, with Zhou Mi following on fifth on court. Taufik Hidayat is on sixth against Hsieh Yu Hsing and Lee Chong Wei is on eighth.
Court 3 sees Peter Gade in action, followed later on with Tine Rasmussen’s first game at the World Championships against Yip Pui Yin. Court 4 will have a double serving of Ma Jin tomorrow, she plays first on court with Zheng Bo, then she is on 5th with Wang Xiaoli in ladies doubles.
Play is set to start at 2pm tomorrow.
Back with more live coverage from the ongoing BWF World Badminton Championships in Hyderabad, India. The matches are getting more intense as the days go by, and the stakes are getting bigger.