2015 The STAR AUSTRALIAN Open Super Series : SEMIFINALS (30th May 2015)

AUTHOR : CLELY

Venue : Sports Centre Olympic Boulevard, Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney-AUS

Total prize-money : US$750,000

Tournament website : http://www.australianbadmintonopen.com.au/

Tournamentsofware link : http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sp…4-9A933DBA0736

Tournament time-table : http://www.australianbadmintonopen.com.au/schedule

Sydney time : http://www.australianbadmintonopen.com.au/schedule

BWF World Superseries link : http://bwfworldsuperseries.com/tourn…ustralian-open

BWF Live Streaming Youtube link : https://www.youtube.com/user/bwf

ORDER OF PLAY (01.00pm local time, 2 courts) => http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sp…736&d=20150530

Badminton superpower China has 9 representatives in semifinal; the 11 remaining spots are spread amongst rest of the world.

It’s senior v junior from same nation for top and bottom half of draw, who will win tomorrow? Current world #1 and world champion Chen Long will meet the in-form Tian Houwei who won the Australian Open in 2013 when its status was still GP Gold. It is interesting to note that this is their first meeting in an international tournament. The other semifinal clash will pit Jorgensen against his younger compatriot Axelsen who created headlines in first round to knock out defending champion Lin Dan.

For the ladies singles, European jewel, Carolina Marin has big chance to book another final here as she will take on Sung Ji Hyun who suprisingly overcame top seed Li Xuerui in quarterfinal. China last hopeful, Wang Shixian will face her routine opponent, none other but Bae Yeon Ju. The  head to head is 15-2 for the Chinese #2 and their last meeting was last month Badminton Asia Championships when the Korean won in straight games.

A rare occurrance happens in men’s doubles department where three China pairs cruise to final four in their traditionally weakest area. Chai B/Hong W will try to break the Korean formidable and consistent duo, and also last year’s champion, Lee YD/ Yoo YS. Liu C/ Lu K looks promising when they tamed reigning world champion Ko SH/Shin BC with their explosive display combined with a fast and solid defense.

Two Chinese ladies doubles will challenge the top two seeds of tournament, Tang JH/Tian Q v Matsutomo/Takahashi and Ma J/Tang YT v Pedersen/Juhl. It shows China supreme quality in this discipline as they only bring 2 pairs and both are through to last four.

All four mixed semifinals berths are filled by pairs from different nation. Defending champion Ko SH/Kim HN from Korea who recently had uninspiring performances at the Sudirman Cup couple of weeks ago turned in a pretty impressive as they subdued China’s number 2 seeds Xu C/Ma J in a marathon 81 minutes match. Another dangerous Chinese pair is waiting for them; the shining star Liu C/Bao YX. At bottom half of draw, we’ll see the battle of third seed Ahmad/Natsir v the underdog Reginald Lee CH/Chau HW. The Ahmad/Natsir should be wary of this Hong Kong pair as they disposed one of the hot favourites Fischer/Pedersen in the last eight.

LIVE TV (court 1, 01.00pm local time) matches :

1) Reginald Lee Chun Hei/Chau Hoi Wah (HKG) v Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir (INA)
2) Ma Jin/Tang Yuan Ting (CHN) v Christinna Pedersen/Kamilla Rytter Juhl (DEN)
3) Jan O Jorgensen (DEN) v Viktor Axelsen (DEN)
4) Sung Ji Hyun (KOR) v Carolina Marin (ESP)
5) Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong (KOR) v Chai Biao/Hong Wei (CHN)