AE 2007 QF Review

Discussion in 'German Open / All England / Swiss Open 2007' started by jamesd20, Mar 10, 2007.

  1. jamesd20

    jamesd20 Moderator

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    Review for day three, I missed the first few matches due to a car accident on the way here, but It was a great days play, with lots of good matches:

    MS QF:

    I missed the LCW Chen Yu Game as it was first on. The Lin Dan Game was very good however, Sony was really threatening to beat Lin, he was fit and quick and was frustratign Lin with his retreiving, If a few shots had gone more his way in the final game then it could have been a different story. I have to admit I didn't feel Lin would lose but he was certainly pushed.

    Chen Jin Must be such a difficult player to play against, although he does not have much deception, a powerful smash, or explosiveness like other CHN plasyers, he has such a drive to win every point, and it must be very hard to play against him KJ played well , but not quite insisive enough to beat him.

    The Bao Match was not so good, very fast and high quality, but not so exciting, and Bao always looked favourite.

    WS QF:

    Zhu Lin suffered a scare against Xu Haiwen, and at one point in the final game (at 13-7 down, I felt she would not recover) but she was always faster than Xu, if not so consistent.

    Wang chen Ran out of energy against Pi, did't watch it too much, but after yesterdays game against Saina, she was tired. Didn't watch th XXF game.

    Zhang Ning, looked a different player to the one we had seen previously, much faster, more direct in her attacks, and although WMC played well, she was just at a level below her today. ZN can alwasy be depended to beat Non-CHN players, and she did't take any chances, looking focussed throughout, despite some good play by Wong. Wong needs to retain her confidence that she can beat these players if she is to continue improving.

    MD QF:

    These gave the most exciting matches of the day, with KKK/TBH Vs Han/Yoo being the pick. Very fast paced with some tremendous defensive play from both pairs, especially KKK. He is a very special player, he has the attitude that "no one can smash through me" and "no one can return my smashes" combined with a sublime touch to change pace a direction, he will surely be champion one day.

    Didn't watch Cai/Fu, it was over too quick!

    Eriksen and Luundgaard was a typical match up between these pair, with its typical conclusion with CTF/LWW losing confidence in their ability an making mistakes.

    The KOR pair were outclassed by TG/CW especially around the net areas, TG never gave LYD the chance to control this area. They still don't have enough power to put the shuttle on the floor though.

    WD QF:

    ............................................Gao/Huang to win No. 7 AE title


    XD QF:

    HHB/YY were forunate that Lilyana injured her ankle in the match against ENG pair the day before, so she was not so mobile, meaning Nova had to cover much of the court, it was never in doubt the result.

    Clark/Kellog game was very good, Clark never gives up and hits some very good strokes at times. if he was more consitent with the easier shots he could challenge the top pairs more often. Kellog is quite mobile for a big girl, but her technique for the net shots lets her down sometimes. The KOR girl was the weak link in this game, not able to take the initiative and ligfting the shuttle too much whe a push would have been the choice shot.

    We missed the LYD/HYM Vs XZB/ZY match.

    The ZB/GL match was surprisingly high in quality, aside from the usual lapses in concentration from ENG pair. Nathan needs to work harder to find the shuttle and take the initiative. What is interesting about this CHN pair is that it is noticeable that Zheng smash is not so strong. Zhang Jun could finish the point from the back, but Zheng cannot, they are a more versatile pair than Gao/Zhang, and Zheng certainly handled the pressure well against the home pair, but they were clearly the better pair. I just can't help but feel that they lack something to be a great pair. But with gao able to win 80% of contests at the net and without another world class pair around they will keep winning.
     
  2. zqloy

    zqloy Regular Member

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    Actually KKK is indeed the best doubles player in Malaysia currently, smart and mentally tough. He is very confident in his defense, is not like a "defensive" type of way, but rock solid and is able to utilies that to force the opponent to make a mistake.
     

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