This was NOT Lee Yong Dae's day.... he played awful by his standards. Kudos to Liu/Qiu though who penetrated their defense quite brilliantly. Definitely an exciting pair! Congrats to Takahashi, that was a great fight! Still feeling a bit put off by the line call at 18-19 in the second game of the Kim/Kim-Kindervater/Schoettler match. It was at least 10cm out (attempted net kill by KSR, I believe), just as bad as the call against Lee YD in the 2008 AE SF...
The LYD line call from the AE vs CTF/LWW also came to my mind as well, but this was even worse I think. It was obvious to everyone in the hall and I have no idea why it wasn't over ruled. If I remember rightly, earlier in the match there had been a complaint although not so severe about a line call on the baseline. It certainly did turn out to be "match of the day" though from an entertainment perspective...
Yes, there were quite a few surprises today (amongst others, both Chinese XD combinations crashing out against European players usually quite a bit below their standards)...but nearly all matches were great fights. The Japan vs Malaysia and Kor vs Kor WD matches were a tad boring (one too one-sided, the other more a training exercise than a match), but it was a great day to watch. Not to be left out - Qiao Bin, who disposed of Wong Wing Ki in an impressive manner, although that was a rather slow match compared to what Boonsak showed at times and what Chen Long/Marc Zwiebler did to each other. Still, he looked good, maybe we'll see more of him in the future...just like Qiu/Liu. While Hong Wei/Chai Biao didn't do too badly, beating my favorite Japanese MD pair, there was little creativity in their play. It was 100% power-play and once they run into a pair that can take away their attack or survive it, they'll really be tested.... Agree with LD_rules on the Match of the Day, it really was aptly named. I had no idea that my fellow countrymen could come so close to taking a game (or more) off Kim/Kim, but in the end, the Koreans were gifted a match point and did quite well to convert immediately, Ingo really was fired up at that point. On a side note - the Korean team really seems quite friendly, they usually hang out in a public area around their matches (like 1,5hrs before and some time after), and seemed to be really comfortable and friendly with each other. Other than on court, Ko was much more outgoing than Lee... Quite happy about taking photos with Lee YD and Kim SR Although I'm not quite sure how much of our English they actually understood, but tapping their shoulder and holding up the camera worked just as well, apparently. Saw an Asian girl who was too excited to ask them and had to gather her courage for 5 minutes before approaching LYD, and squealed in delight when he agreed to take a picture with her
As expected, only Tommy Sugiarto remains in the SF for INA. He also has a tough task in beating Boonsak Poonsana today.
As i expected, Takahashi seemed to have a complete control of her game against Li Xuerui yesterday. I missed that match. Really marvellous. She had a complete control of second and third game it seems. Congrats. Even Tournament Software mentioned her match against Juliane as "Match Of the Day". Obviously right. Can anybody tell me something more about her? I mean age and any other achievements so far?. I have seen her name for the first time in this tournament. Really marvellous.
Count me in sis, particularly the Olympic Champ succumbed to unseeded and lesser known Japanese player Sayaka Takahashi China depends on Yihan now to keep WS chance alive but well improved Sung Ji-hyun is really tough opponent. Tommy Sugiarto progressed to last four, same outcome with last year edition. Will he beat Boonsak? Chen Long will wait the winner of this tie unless Qiao Bin could defeat his senior.
Today , the matches which are noteworthy to be watched.. 1) Sayaka vs Juliane.. I think sayaka has 53 % chance than Juliane. Hoping home soil will favourite juliane in the first game, sayaka may turn things out of her in the second and third . 2) Wang Yihan vs Sung Ji Hyun - Bit out of form Wang Yihan vs korean open title winner sungjihyun. I think Sung Ji Hyun has 70 % chance than Wang yihan.
yes, I won't surprised if she lost to players like Minatsu Mitani, but it's a bit unbelievable that she lost to Sayaka Takahashi. I hope I get to watch the video soon. WYH v. SJH will be a tough match. WYH always has problem playing against SJH. It would be great to watch a final of WYH v JS. Yes, I think Tommy improves a lot recently. He has the chances to beat Boonsak but I still don't think he can beat Chen Long if they meet in the final.
There is a legend in badminton saying that, when one who is unpopular defeated a world no.1 or OC, the next day he/she will lose to his/her opponent.
How is it Sayaka can beat LXR shocking Ina ws should learn from this period LYD/KSH lost to LXL/QZH After their loss in Mas SS final their graphic is going downhill, too much hyped ??
I accept that. When Sindhu toppled olympic champion, not many fans of Li Xuerui wanted to accept it or digest it. Even in some of the best Badminton websites like badzine explained it as "Luck" for the seventeen year old . But i wanna mention it that whoever talks about "luck" definitely might not have full knowledge about badminton sport. Even a fifth grade student can tell how much difficult to get a single point in badminton. They may be well versed in making critics but they might not have played even a single match in badminton. That's why they makes such a kind of silly comments. This is not so easy to be ignored. If you are beating a olympic as well as world champion, then that girl should be something more than the other players. I hope Takahashi should not overjoy herself for beating Li Xuerui. She need to be careful while playing Juliane. She can't beat Juliane as if like she played it with Li Xuerui. Juliane has different ball game. She has drastically improved her game since Superseries finals. Its clearly visible in her strokes. All the best Takahashi.
LXR lost to Sayaka?! There goes my dream match, LXR - JS. Shocked at first, it took me a while for it to sink in. And then I realised (not trying to find excuses) the way most of the CHN players fared in the previous rounds, a bit off-colour after the 9-day Chinese New Year holiday (playing too hard as in having fun), it becomes quite understandable. No wonder and luckily they take part in this GER Open to warm up and get into the groove of things for the more important All England next week. Whatever the reason or excuse, a loss is a loss, just take it as a lesson learnt and be the wiser for it. The CHN coaches do have a good grasp of their charges' condition and disposition, obviously. I guess these players are being pushed so hard at training that they become like little children, once you give them time-off and let them loose at the playground, they cannot be restrained, naughty,naughty. Well,that victory for Sayaka, congratulations to her, should give her a confidence boost but I still think Juliane will be more than a handful for her. Let's see if Wang YH can hold up against Sung JH later today; expect the unexpected. As for Chen Long vs Qiao Bin, it might be more interesting to see the latter in the final against Boonsak or Tommy.
why have to blame on Ko? Is LYD so perfect until nothing to blame? Last time when JJS and LYD lost, people also used to blame JJS only.
