Japan had four chances to claim titles in Melbourne and dominate the week but had to settle for just three from the four. The anticipated return of Wang Lin ended at the semi final stage as another Chinese woman stole the show in the women’s singles, which Japan had interest in the other four events.
The day started with title number one for Japan, as 4th seeded Matsuo and Naito defeated the unseeded Malaysian pair of Chin and Wong in a 21-18, 21-11 victory in 43 minutes.The chance for title number two was immediate with 5th seeded Hashimoto and Fujii taking on the 2nd seeded Thai pairing of Anugritayawon and Voravichitchaikul. However the Japanese domination took a massive blow with the 2nd seeded Thai’s winning in impressive fashion, defeating Hashimoto and Fujii 21-15, 21-9 in just 31 minutes.
It was China’s turn next to win in impressive fashion as Liu Xin finished her excellent week with a highly impressive win over the 6th seeded Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in a one-sided 21-14, 21-9 to ensure that Thailand’s title tally for the week was just one. The 4th final of the day ensured a second Japanese title as 5th seeded Endo and Hayakawa defeated their 4th seeded team-mates Kawamae and Sato in a tight two game match which seen the lower seeded pair take the title in 39 minutes.
The final match of the day seen 6th seeded Sho Sasaki against the 8th seeded Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia, after both player exchanged a game apiece, the final game was perfectly poised at 17-17, with Sho Sasaki stringing together an invaluable two point streak to take it to 19-17 and the 8th seeded Wong could never get back on level terms, with Sasaki taking the 3rd game 21-19 to claim the title and Japan’s third of the week.
All five of the top seeds reached the last 8 without much concern, but the quarter final was a hurdle that two top seeds stumbled at and opened the draw up for fellow team-mates and other seeded players to take advantage of.
Boonsak Ponsana was the first top seed to crash out today, losing in three games to the 9th seeded Tommy Sugiarto which opened the door for Tien Minh Nguyen to potentially take the title. That prospect lasted a mere hour as the 2nd seeded Nguyen lost to 6th seeded Sho Sasaki in another lengthy three game encounter to further open up the men’s singles draw.
An all-Chinese final is a real possibility in the women’s singles, with top seeded Liu Xin defeating 8th seeded Sayaka Sato to reach the last 4 where she will take on Inthanon Ratchanok of Thailand in the first of the semi finals. The other semi final is another Thailand v China clash, with 6th seeded Porntip Buranaprasertsuk taking on the unseeded Wang Lin with both secure two game victories in their quarter finals to reach the last 4.
The men’s doubles is loaded with Japanese pairs and of the four remaining duos, the highest seed still in the draw is the 5th seeded Endo and Hayakawa who defeated the 3rd seeded Gan and Tan to reach the last 4. Their opponents in the semi final are the top seeded Japanese pair of Hashimoto and Hirata who have failed to drop a game to date. The second semi final sees the 4th seeded Kawamae and Sato, also of Japan take on the 2nd seeded Chandra and Gunawan. Both duos have been on top form this week and have failed to drop a game to date.
The top seeded Fujii and Kakiiwa crashed out in the women’s doubles to the Malaysian pair of Chin and Wong in a tight three game match. They set up a semi final match against another unseeded pair in the Hong Kong duo of Poon and Tse, who defeated the 3rd seeded Singapore pairing of Yao and Sari. The other semi final features another unseeded pair in the Chinese partnership of Xiong and Ou, who take on the only seed left in the draw in Matsuo and Naito of Japan, the 4th seeds who have failed to drop a game to date this week.
The mixed doubles is another event with 4 of the top 5 seeds left in the draw, with top seeded Prapakamol and Thoungthongkam defeating Widianto and Natsir to reach the last 4 against the 5th seeded pair of Hashimoto and Fujii, who defeated the 4th seeded Wong and Chau to reach the semi final. The other semi final is another Thailand – Japan match up with the 3rd seeded Ikeda and Shiota taking on the Thai 2nd seeds of Anugritayawon and Voravichitchaikul, who defeated the unseeded Malaysia pair of Ng and Tan in a three game match late on Friday evening.
Day 4 Results:
An excellent field has been whittled down to just 8 in each of the events, with a few unseeded players making headway in the event as well as the welcome return of China’s Wang Lin after a knee operation sidelined her for over 6 months.
Top seed Boonsak Ponsana progressed through both his matches to reach the last 8 and a match against the 9th seeded Tommy Sugiarto from Indonesia. Sugiarto defeated the 5th seeded Kazushi Yamada in his 3rd round match to progress into the quarters. Unseeded Takuma Ueda is also into the last 8 after his victory over the 3rd seeded Hu Yun to set up his quarter final match against Wong Choong Hann, seeded 8. The pick of tomorrow’s quarter final matches sees the 2nd seeded Tien Minh Nguyen taking on the 6th seeded Sho Sasaki, with the Japanese player in excellent form this week as he has progressed into the last 8 without the loss of a game.
Chinese interest is available in both halves of the women’s singles draw, with top seeded Liu Xin taking on Sayaka Sato of Japan in the top match of the quarter finals. In the bottom half, Wang Lin has returned to action with a stunning 21-19, 21-9 win over the 2nd seeded Yip Pui Yin in her opening round match, before defeating Ayana Kurihana in two games to book her place in the quarter final against Adrianti Firdasari of Indonesia, who defeating Ai Goto in her opening round match earlier in the week.
The seeds are well represented in both doubles events, with a distinct Japanese feel to both events. Hashimoto and Hirata are the top seeds in the men’s doubles and have been nothing short of impressive in reaching the last 8. The pick of the matches in the men’s doubles sees the 3rd seeded Malaysians Gan and Tan take on the 5th seeded Endo and Hayakawa of Japan. The top seeds in the women’s doubles, Fujii and Kakiiwa are through to take on the dangerous Malaysia pair of Chin and Wong in their quarter final match. Matsuo and Naito are the seeded Japanese seeds in the last 8, with the 4th seeded pair taking on Choo and Veeran of Australia in their quarter final match up.
The top 7 seeds are all present in the quarter final of the mixed doubles, with the 8th seeded Lee and Lun of the USA defeated by Tan and Ng of Malaysia, who take on Anugritayawon and Voravichitchaikul in the quarter final. The other Thai pair in the draw is the top seeded Prapakamol and Thoungthongkam who take on the 6th seeded Indonesian pair of Widianto and Natsir in their quarter final match.
The Asian monopoly on finals day was thwarted by an unlikely British presence in the mixed doubles final, with the likes of Lee Yong Dae and Lin Dan on show there was Robert Blair and Gabrielle White to boost British hopes ahead of the All-England’s next week.
Lin Dan’s recent form has been a throwback to his all-conquering days of a few years ago, defeating Lee Chong Wei in Korea 5 weeks ago and his two game victory this week over team-mate and current world champion Chen Jin 21-19, 21-11. The Olympic champion will be the undoubted favourite going into the All-England’s to claim his second Premier Series title of the year.
Liu Xin made it a pair of singles titles for China as she defeated Ayane Kurihana in the longest match of the day, winning in three games 21-13, 15-21, 21-9. Lee and Jung took the men’s doubles title in an all-Korean final against Kim and Kim in a three game match and will be one of the favourites next week to claim a second title in two weeks.
Japan did claim one title this week, with Fujii and Kakiiwa defeating the Korean pair of Ha and Kim in a very one-sided affair, winning 21-6, 21-14 in a little over half and hour. Robert Blair and Gabrielle White took the mixed doubles title against the unseeded Japanese pair of Ikeda and Shiota, after dropping the opening game they fought back to take the title 16-21, 21-16, 21-15.
The German and Russian hopes ended on quarter finals day as the Asian players have significant interest in all the events going into the weekends play. There only remains two British pairs in the mixed doubles whilst the remainder of the field is from Asia.
Lin Dan is safely into the last 4, defeating Shon Wan Ho in two games to book his place in the semi final. In his semi final he will take on the 3rd seeded Boonsak Ponsana who defeated qualifier Keigo Sonoda in two games. The other semi final sees the other two highest seeds meet as Chen Jin seeded 2 takes on Park Sung Hwan, the 4th seed from Korea. Chen Jin was forced into a third game by Lee Hyun Il in his quarter final, before progress through in 62 minutes.
Juliane Schenk became the 7th seed to fall in the women’s singles, losing out to the 5th seeded Liu Xin in a tight two game match. The Chinese 5th seed will take on Sung Ji Hyun in the semi final after the Korean defeated Fu Mingtian in three games. The other semi final sees Mew Chew Wong take on Japan’s Ayane Kurihara, after winning her all-Japanese quarter final convincingly over Ai Goto.
The Korean’s have 3 of the 4 pairs remaining in the draw for the men’s doubles, with Ko and Yoo progressing to an all-Korean semi final against Kim and Kim without the loss of a game to date this week. The other semi final is one of the matches of the week between Lee and Jung of Korea and Koo and Tan of Malaysia with both partnerships in excellent form and not dropping a game between them to this point in the tournament.
Japan versus Korea is the story of the women’s doubles, with two such matches taking place in the semi final stage. 7th seeded Naito and Matsuo defeated the top seeded Maeda and Suetsuna to book their place in the last 4 where they will play the unseeded Korean pair of Ha and Kim who defeated the 4th seeded Vislova and Sorokina in a tight three game match, winning the 3rd game 22-20 to progress. The 2nd semi final sees the 5th seeded Fujii and Kakiiwa take on Kim and Kim of Korea with both partnerships winning in 2 games to reach the last 4.
The mixed doubles has a rare all-British matchup in the first semi final, as Adcock and Bankier take on Blair and White for a place in Sunday’s final. An undoubted boost ahead of next week’s All-England Championships and next years Olympics to be held in London. Bankier and Adcock’s impressive two game win over Lee and Kim will be one of their highlights of their careers to date whilst Blair and White defeated the formidable partnership of Nikolaenko and Sorokina to reach the last 4. Voravichitchaikul and Anugritayawon take on the Japanese pair of Ikeda and Shiota in the other semi final, with the Japanese pairing defeating the 2nd seeded Mateusiak and Zieba to reach the last 4.
The top seed in the men’s singles has progressed safely into the quarter finals after a double victory in his matches on the second day of the German Open. Also joining him in the last 8 is the current world champion Chen Jin, 3rd seeded Boonsak Ponsana and the 4th seeded Park Sung Hwan.
Marc Zwiebler’s surprise second round exit ended all hopes of a German winner in the men’s singles, his surprise two game loss to Hsu Jen Hao of Chinese Taipei has not been the only surprise in the last 8, Japanese qualifer Keigo Sonoda’s unlikely run has seen him through to a last 8 match with 3rd seeded Boonsak Ponsana, who defeated a pair of Japanese players to book his place in the last 8. Lin Dan has safely progressed into the last 8 without the loss of a game after wins over Scott Evans and Hans-Kristian Vittinghus today to reach the quarter finals.
The two remaining seeds in the women’s singles meet for a place in the last 4 as Juliane Schenk takes on Liu Xin after both comfortably won their second round matches in two games. Wong Mew Choo is the main threat on the bottom half of the draw and takes on Russia’s Anastasia Prokopenko for a place in the semi finals.
The top three seeds are all safely into the last 8 of the men’s doubles but the 4th seeds suffered a surprise defeat to the German pair of Fuchs and Roth who defeated Hashimoto and Hirata of Japan in a tight three game match with the Germans taking the match 22-20 in the third end. Alexandr Nikolaenko’s excellent week continued with a three game win over the 7th seeded pair of Gan and Tan with partner Vitalij Durkin to set up a quarter final match against the 3rd seeded Koo and Tan.
The women’s doubles has a distinct Asian feel to it, with 5 seeds remaining and a sole European partnership in the 4th seeded Russian pair of Vislova and Sorokina. The first quarter final is an all-Japanese match between Maeda and Suetsuna, seeded 1 and the 7th seeded Matsuo and Naito who both come into the match without the loss of a game between them. Vislova and Sorokina take on the unseeded Ha and Kim of Korea who defeated the 8th seeded German pairing of Marinello and Michels in two games to reach the last 8.
There is still double British interest in the mixed doubles ahead of next weeks All-Englands, with 6th seeded Blair and White and 7th seeded Adcock and Bankier. Blair and White have progressed to the last 8 without the loss of a game and take on the on form pairing of Nikolaenko and Sorokina for a place in the last 4 whilst Adcock and Bankier take on the Korean pair of Lee and Kim in one of the matches of the day on quarter finals day. The top seeded pair left in the draw, Mateusiak and Zieba scraped through a three game match against the Japanese pair of Sato and Matsuo to book their place in the last 8.
Day 2 in Malaysia and the first major surprises in the tournament were in the mens singles, with the perennial top-10 ranked players losing out in their second round matches.
6th seeded Boonsak Ponsana was the first to suffer a surprise defeat to Alamyah Yunus in a three game encounter lasting 72 minutes and just over an hour later, current world champion and 4th seeded Chen Jin lost his own second round in a 73-minute matchup with world number 27, Simon Santoso who claimed his first victory over the 4th seed in his sixth match against the Chinese player.
The rest of the seeds remaining had little problem in reaching the last 8, with Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei on a crash course in Saturday’s semi final if the pair can defeated their opponents tomorrow. Lee Chong Wei takes on Tien Minh Nguyen with both players reaching the last 8 without the loss of a game to date whilst Lin Dan takes on his Chinese team mate Chen Long in his quarter final, with the questions finally being answered of how close Chen Long is to beating the Olympic champion after the withdrawal of Lin Dan in China last month allowed Chen Long a free pass into the last 4. There were also wins for Taufik Hidayat and Kenichi Tago today and their reward is a matchup against one another for a place in the last 4.
All 4 of the women’s singles quarter final have a Chinese interest, such is the strength and depth of the Chinese squad. Top seeded Wang Xin was pushed to three games of Mew Choo Wong in her second round match and will be tested again with the 5th seeded Juliane Schenk being her opponent in tomorrow’s match. 2nd seeded Wang Shixian and 3rd seeded Wang Yihan have had little problem in reaching the last 8, with neither player dropping a game on route to this stage whilst the 4th of the quarter finals is an all-Chinese matchup between Jiang Yanjiao and Liu Xin, both have survived a three game match to reach the last 8 but this will be their biggest test to date with Liu Xin being one of the breakthrough players of the last few months for China, reaching 23 in the world rankings.
The men’s doubles is losing it’s compliment of seeded players on a daily basis, today saw the end of the 4th seeded Hashimoto and Hirata’s title challenge as well as the 7th seeded Bach and Gunawan losing out to Rasmussen and Conrad-Petersen of Denmark. Ko and Yoo begun their campaign with a straight forward two game victory and will take on Chai and Guo in their last 8 match up, whilst the two Indonesian seeds are also safely into the last 8. Chandra and Gunawan are through to face the Danish pair of Rasmussen and Conrad-Petersen whilst the 6th seeded Ahsan and Septano are through to take on the Korean pair of Cho and Kwon in their quarter final match.
The women’s doubles is another event laden with Chinese interest, with all four quarter final matches having Chinese players in it. Du and Pan, seeded 5 will take on the top seeded Cheng and Chien in the first of the quarter finals, with both coming through three game matches in the second round to book their place in the last 8. 8th seeded Tian and Zhao take on the unseeded Singapore pair of Sari and Yao with both duos in fine form without the loss of a game to date. Ma and Cheng take on Ha and Kim of Korea, another match with both pairs coming into the match in excellent form. The most intriguing of the 4 matches is the match between Wang and Yu, seeded 6 against the 2nd second Nedelcheva and Russkikh with the most dominant performances this week coming from their two pairs who have progressed with the loss of 70 points in 8 games to this point.
With six of the eight seeds remaining, the possibility of a winner coming from one of those six is high especially with the remaining two unseeded duos playing each other in the quarter final. Thai pairing of Voravichitchaikul and Anugritayawon take on the Scottish/English partnership of Robert Blair and Gabby White after both came through their difficult second round matches without the loss of a game between the two matches. The highest remaining seeds are the Korean pair of Ko and Ha who take on the 7th seeded pairing of He and Ma, a rematch of their second round match in Hong Kong last month that the Koreans won convincingly in two games.
Even without Tine Baun or Peter Gade featuring on finals day, Denmark had the opportunity to win three of the five events. Jan O Jorgensen delivered upon the hype that he is the future of Danish badminton after Peter Gade’s retirement with a two game victory over 2nd seeded Taufik Hidayat, whose drought in 2010 continues. The 21-19, 21-19 scoreline hides Taufik’s mid-game collapse in both games, allowing Jorgensen to win 6 consecutive points and led for the remainder of either set.
The Chinese monopoly on the women’s single continues, with top seed Wang Yihan took on unseeded Liu Xin in an all-Chinese final. The two game victory for the top seeded Wang Yihan was one of the more one-sided of finals day, with the top seed winning 21-14, 21-12 in 41 minutes with the unseeded Liu Xin never having a lead late on in either game to have a chance to take it to a third game.
The most one-sided final came in the men’s doubles, with the top two seeds meeting in the final. It was the top seeded Danish pair of Boe and Mogensen demolishing the second seeded Kido and Setiawan 21-13, 21-12 in just 31 minutes to double Denmark’s titles on home turf. The Danish pairs 10-point run in the middle of the second game ended any resistance from the Indonesian 2nd seeds.
The Japanese contingent will be satisfied with it’s women’s doubles title, with the top seeded Maeda and Suetsuna defeating the 6th seeded Matsuo and Naito also of Japan in two games, winning 21-17, 21-14 in just over a hour in the longest match on finals day on Odense.
Denmark’s third title came from the 2009 world champions, Laybourn and Rytter Juhl who defeated the 6th seeded Robertson and Wallwork in the mixed doubles final in three games. After the pairs exchanged games with both winning their respective games 21-12, the higher seeded Danes never gave the English pair an opportunity to lead in the deciding game, with Laybourn and Rytter Juhl taking the third game 21-9.
In spite of the size of the event the Asian Badminton Championships there are relatively few big stars on show, and even fewer stars remaining heading into the finals stage.
China are guaranteed the title with one veteran and one rookie on deck. Lin Dan had a relatively straight forward win over Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana 22-20, 21-10 to book his spot in the final against the relatively unknown Wang Zhengming. Wang had a more challenging semi-final against Japan’s rising star Kenichi Tago. The young Japanese shuttler wasn’t able to reproduce the magic from his All England run and lost in three close games 21-14, 19-21, 21-16.
Once again China are guaranteed the title, but this time both players are unknown qualifiers making their first major final appearances. The top seeded Saina Nehwal was unable to go the push her opponent Li Xuerui and easily succumbed in two games 21-17, 21-11. The second seeded Zhou Mi suffered a similar fate against her opponent Liu Xin and lost 21-15, 21-18.
While not regularly an event with a strong presence from the Malaysians, Vivian Kah Mun Hoo and Khe Wei Woon have booked their place in the finals against China’s Pan Pan and Tian Qing. The Chinese pair are strong favourites to win the title, but the Malaysians have done well to fight their way through thus far.
The mens doubles features the top seeds from Chinese Taipei Chen Hung Ling and Lin Yu Lang who squeezed out a win over Korea’s Han Sang Hoon and Hwang Ji Man in three close games 21-18, 12-21, 21-18 to book their place against Korea’s fifth seeds Cho Gun Woo and Yoo Yeon Seong who booked their place with a win over Fang Chieh Min and Lee Sheng Mu 21-18, 22-20.
The last finals line up is the mixed doubles which has Yoo Yeon Seong in his second final with partner Kim Min Jung against Malaysia’s Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying.