Yup, contrary to last year result. For INA viewers, Star Sports channel will broadcast LIVE today & tomorrow SEMIFINALS (12.00pm, 1 court) => http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/s...4BA051-AD30-4BA5-B15C-4BE8D430CC3C&d=20140719 Both home WS Hsu Ya Ching and JPN MS Riichi Takeshita are surprising semifinalist as they knocked out 4th seed Han Li and top-seed Son Wan Ho yesterday.
2nd straight semis for Hsu Ya Ching (US now Taipei). Will she make it to finals this time? I service judged for her against her partner Pai Yu Po in Canada. I thought she was outstanding (started out with a 15-5 lead) and then it just went downhill. Just mistake after mistake and playing a little lazily, lost 1st game 22-20.
Unfortunately Ya Ching did not make it after a promising start that ended in a tight 21-19 against her. Sung Ji Hyun was too experienced for her and wrapped up G2 in just 21-9. Ya Ching was forced to use up a lot of energy in G1 and was unable to match SJH thereafter. But it is great to see Taiwan producing a number of good women singles.
Another solid and efficient play from Nitya/Greysia, they did well to attack and defence to break the rythm of young Chn pair. But the real test should be 2mrw vs mighty Wang/Yu
The linejudge was about to change her mind to call it out but the umpire didn't see it and took the first call as in.
No wonder Riichi could beat Son WH, the best I've seen RT played. But I must say LD is a bit out of sorts today. And SWH has lost some of his shine lately.
Have to concur with Morten Frost that Lin Dan is still far from his top form, he's not convinced yet, neither am I.
Takeshita is no pushover! He made LD work for his points. But now LD has a 19-16 lead before Takeshita regains a point from a baseline line shot, which was 'unofficially' challenged by LD. Takeshita now closed the gap to 20-18 but a weak return gave LD the match. LD wins 21-15, 14-21, 21-18 to enter tomorrow's finals. Takeshita missed the golden chance to unseat him. But I feel the INA's WD pair of Maheswar/Polii's win over CHN's Tang/Huang 21-16, 21-17 as the most interesting and deserving.
Liu Xin's commanding lead in G1 suddenly evaporated, in the end she is lucky to escape with a narrow win, 23-21.
Tang Yuanting/Huang Yaqiong's very first tournament together, still quite a raw young pair, one 19 yrs old, TYT, and the other 20, HYQ. Their weaknesses were exposed by the experienced INA pair.
Not often do we see Wang Zhengming so composed, steady and able to anticipate quite a number of Wei Nan's shots. If Lin Dan tomorrow plays like he did today, then WZM has a fighting chance to upset him for a famous victory in the final.
Unfortunately StarHub is not showing the other SF. What is showing now is the repeat of the US Open SF.
Right, only five matches shown live, luckily there's livestream http://www.hahabar.com/20140716/v--850115-53c5c6672e4866.79066289.html
The last semifinal match has been finished with CHN future MD pair, 2013 WJunior Champion Li JH/Liu YC prevailed. Sad news for local fans as none of their players make it to finale tomorrow. CHN has representatives in all 5 categories and MS title is secured, it's CHN v INA for doubles discipline.
FINALS (12.00pm) => http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/s...4BA051-AD30-4BA5-B15C-4BE8D430CC3C&d=20140720 XD, Alfian Eko Prasetya/Annisa Saufika (INA) v Liu Yuchen/Yu Xiaohan (CHN) H-2-H : 0-0 Battle of youngsters, first meeting between two finalists, Alfian/Annisa won first GP title last April in New Zealand, let's see whether they will step up to nail bigger title here WS, Sung Ji Hyun (KOR) v Liu Xin (CHN) H-2-H : 1-1 It will be close match, Sung JH is the fave to defend her title. WD, Wang Xiaoli/Yu Yang (CHN) v Nitya Krishinda Maheswari/Greysia Polii (INA) H-2-H : 2-1 Maheswari/Polii scored shocking winning against the incredible Wang/Yu in French SS last year, this gonna be tough test for INA WD as the world champion seems on fire to pick another title after absent in many SS tourneys and Uber Cup this year MS, Lin Dan (CHN) v Wang Zhengming (CHN) H-2-H : 4-0 All straight-sets triumphant for Super Dan in their four previous meeting, will Wang ZM steal one game this time against his famous senior? MD, Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen (CHN) v Andrei Adistia/Hendra Aprida Gunawan (INA) H-2-H : 0-0 Both pairs surprisingly advance to last round as all seeded pairs had been ousted before semifinal, the agressive Chinese youngsters is eager to win another GP Gold title after IND Open early this year