Wow, that was a super tight match between LD and SS. Must have been such a treat for the crowd. As always, LD seems to find an extra gear when needed. Congrats to both players. As for my MS predictions, I got 3 out of 4 correct with only Axelsson losing. He played a totally different style of game gainst WZM than he did against BCL the previous night. Whereas he was patient then, he seemed to want to finish all the points at record speed and in the process committed a ton of errors. On equal footing on the night, I think WZM would have won anyway. Quite impressed with his economical style but like young players, he is prone to bouts of lapses.
Greysia/Meiliana lost to Ha/Kim? It's surprise me.. Simon gave tough fight to Lin Dan? It's surprise me too
WSX over JS in 83 mins?? Wow! The soldier must have used every ounce of her military training to last that long. Pity JS couldn't hold on at the end and made a couple of misjudgements. I wonder how many in the crowd had to see an ear specialist after for treatment for WSX's ear-piercing shrieks?
LD should be tuned and peaked for OLY12 but to OLY08 level, that remains to be seen. LD in OLY08 was his absolute best, even LCW admitted he was clueless to play LD; too fast, read the game inside out, and anticipation of where the shuttle is landing. In AE11, LCW was top form and even then it was close even though LCW won in 2-sets, so if LD like you say can prime to OLY08 level, might as well mail him the gold medal.
We were spared WSX s ear-piercing shrieks after she s done thrice because she had to conserve energy as her shrieks used up energy. Then when she s too exhausted to shriek, she resorted to the minimum energy way, clench her fist and mouth. That s when her opponent should know her tank is dipping. Problem was, so was her opponent s!
Hehe, she's smarter than I thought. Conserving energy by reducing her shrieks. Kinda like KERS in F1 racing
Juliane's physical approach to the game has certainly paid dividends lately, and almost collected a major scalp in that of WSX's. Inthanon succumbed to the rigours, running out of steam in the rubber, and was unable to recover her breath despite several occasions lying on the ground, lol. I pity the ears of those that are closest to WSX, the line and service judges, and also the umpire
Hehe, the line judges and umpire probably had to take out extra health insurance which I'm sure they have claimed after the trauma delivered to their ears. Not sure if anyone has mentioned this before but is what is Rat's fitness like? She seems to fluctuate so it's hard to read.
My take on the TV matches: XD: ZN/ZYL was just not good enough watsoever to really challenge the tontowi/lilyana despite having 4 game points in the first set. Even if they were to get the 1st set, they will still lose as they were inferior in every department against the indonesians WD: The Korean WD pair were slightly better than the Japanese pair as they took the initiative to attack while the Japanese were most of the time waiting for opponent's mistakes to score. WS: Wang Shixian was totally manhandled by 31 year old Tine Baun. Enough said MS: Quite a gigantic battle but I always have the feeling LD will win as he will up the ante whenever it is necessary. After winning all the major titles at stake, LD seem to be taking his time and have less hunger than before. But, he is still that damn good MD: An evenly contested match and CY/FHF won because they were quicker to adapt and have neve of steel at the critical moment but frankly, the match could go either way
Think they'll have to pay a premium price to their insurers, considering the risks involved . I don't think it was a question of Rat's fitness, since she managed to go all the way in the rubber. Rather, it was playing an opponent who couldn't stop running
WSX actually has a rather demure disposition off court. I've seen her a few times before. All sugary and sweet, lol
