A match fit for the final, not a shadow of a doubt. So far, only the Super Trio are undeniably the biggest crowd-pullers
Lin Dan is physically stretched in this 1 hr 18 minutes battle. I think Chen Long's superior fitness and stamina gives him a slight edge.
In the decider, Lin Dan was trailing in the first half, then turned it around to go on the lead and even held 2 matchpoints, but, unfortunately, couldn't convert it. In his younger days, he wouldn't miss winning such crucial points, even at deuce. Credit to Chen Long, his stubborn defense and persistence paid off , thanks largely to his superb fitness and accurate shotmaking. When Chen Long is in his element, you really can't afford to let your guard down even a little bit.
Of the 4 MS semifinalist, LHI is the weakest. It's already an achievement for him. The final should be CL vs KS.
To put it bluntly, in these few years until now, Chen Long's greatest weakness is actually himself, he is his own worst enemy, proverbially speaking. Among the Super Trio , I should rate Chen Long number one, at the moment.
Of the four semifinalists, Lee Hyun Il is the weakest only in terms of physicality and age, but he's the strongest in terms of skills and experience. We'll see how it goes.
It's not far-fetched for me to say that, atm, Chen Long at his best is practically unbeatable, only he can defeat himself.
Not sure if Lin Dan is willing to work a bit more on his fitness/stamina in preparation for the World Championships, I suppose it depends on his motivation and aims for the remaining years of his extended career.
Many memories 1. Misaki matsutomo who always have a long grip, she grab the racket by the edge, the other 3 doesn't. Wonder why 2. The organizer trolling by having 3 courts of ws, wd, wd, looks like they want us to sleep, the all japan and korea den hurts more as it's 3 games. Even Watching tires you, how about the players? 3. Koharu playing the rally with broker strings in the usual japanese "if we can get it longer, why stop? " and won the point 4. Don't self destruct by blaming yourself and let the situations gets you, saw how Tan boon hong, inoue, want and suaka just can't control so their best can't get out. Ayaka had to be told by the ref several times 5. What is tian houwei doing in the match of legenda?, 4 players, only one Isn't a legenda. LHI is too hard headed and kept playing to tian's hand. Although when He incorporaye those attacking clears and lift, then tian become troubled. 6. The ref caling chen long challenge although it was lin dan who challenged
SEMIFINALS (01.00pm) => https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/...D1C54B-EF2E-4ED7-8E0F-2139EF1FB98E&d=20170624 A cruel draw and premature final between two of magnificent men's singles trio in titanic battle delivers two-time World Champion prevailed. After one game apiece, both Chen Long and Lin Dan exhibited real show in deciding game with fascinating and thrilling duel. Lin held match point earlier, 20-18 but Chen refused to give up then saved three match points, the reigning Olympic Champion sealed the tie, 23-21. Chen will meet the dark-horse Korean veteran Lee Hyun Il who overcame Tian Houwei in another physically demanding match. Srikanth Kidambi is back to finest form, redeems SGP Superseries final defeat over Sai Praneeth with two straight-games, Srikanth took crucial opening game, 23-21 and 21-17 victory. The Indian star will take on Chinese promising talent Shi Yuqi for a place in final spot. Shi made superb comeback in first game, trailed behind 5-11 then after interval the young Chinese developed his tactical game plan to push defending champion Hans Kristian Vittinghus moved to all four corners and nailed the game, 21-17. It's gone case for Danish player in second game as the more confidence Shi YQ implemented shot variations to outmanuever his older rival, 21-12. Women's singles quarterfinal presented two intriguing matches to watch, Tai Tzu Ying was pushed into the limit by Pusarla Sindhu. Rio silver medalist Sindhu surprised world number one Tai with aggressive style and looked alert for Tai disguising shots while her opponent committed many unforced errors. At the brink of losing, 19-20 the Taiwanese showed steely determination to force rubber games. The interesting part continued to deciding game, once again Sindhu wasted her chance when took leading 14-10, Tai slowly narrowed the gap to grab 5 consecutive points to takeover the leading, 15-14. After Sindhu leveled the scoreline, 15-15, current All England Champion regained momentum and unstoppable to check into last four, 21-16. Later on at TV court, Sun Yu toppled tough foe Saina Nehwal in really gruelling 78 minutes match, 21-17 / 10-21 / 21-17. The Chinese was so emotional to book semifinal spot in Superseries tournament, Chinese women's singles squad are struggling against the elite players lately. On semifinal showdown, Tai Tzu Ying will meet Akane Yamaguchi who outplayed Chen Yufei while Sun Yu has tough challenger to pass, the on-fire Nozomi Okuhara. Setiawan/Tan BH finally book semifinal spot, best result so far in their six months partnerships, they will take on current world number ten Liu C/Zhang N. The Chinese had slow start and confused with their faster and younger opponent Ong YS/Teo EY but more experienced Liu/Zhang found their rhythm in next two games. Other semifinal tie will pit two combinations who have same characteristic and agility, Kamura/Sonoda against giant-killer Lu CY/Yang PH. All women's doubles quarterfinals were finished in three games with typically long rallies to earn point, the Olympic Champion Matsutomo/Takahashi who eliminated teammates Koharu/Yonemoto and set up a clash with the rising Chinese talented teens Chen QC/Jia YF. European Champion Juhl/Pedersen edged out Asian Badminton Championships runner-up, Kim HY/Yoo HW and find Japanese well-improved pair next, recent MAS Premier champion Fukushima/Hirota. Last year runner-up Zheng SW/Chen QC will be challenged by their compatriots Wang YL/Huang DP, the latter stunned more fancied rival Chris and Gabby Adcock in quarterfinal. As expected, former All England champion Jordan/Susanto eliminated Malaysian experimenting pair Chan PS/Cheah YS and will face the dangerous and unheralded Korean newest duo, Kim DY/Kim HN who shocked Thailand Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai in two straight-sets. LIVE TV COVERAGE (Court 1, 01.00pm) : 1) Srikanth Kidambi (IND) v Shi Yuqi (CHN) 2) Praveen Jordan/Debby Susanto (INA) v Kim Duk Young/Kim Ha Na (KOR) 3) Tai Tzu Ying (TPE) v Akane Yamaguchi (JPN) 4) Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota (JPN) v Kamilla Rytter Juhl/Christinna Pedersen (DEN) 5) Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan (CHN) v Hendra Setiawan/Tan Boon Heong (MAS)
All of MS semifinal matches should be delightful to watch. Srikant vs Shi Yuqi and Chen Long vs Lee Hyun Il sounds fun.
I think he's there stamina wise--looked comfortable hanging on with Chen Long even towards the end of the three-setter today. The area that still leaves room for improvement is explosiveness of movement--maybe net play too. On an unrelated note, LD is probably the unluckiest players with net-cords that I've ever seen lol. The number of "lucky" net-cords that his opponent gets each match is just uncanny. Of course I don't have the exact figures for comparison with other players' matches, just a feeling that I get.
We have an interesting match where unseeded Srikanth Kidambi is the favourite against the No.4 seed Shi Yuqi. Shi Yuqi has to improve his net play, it's not like a top 5 player. He will hope Srikant has an off day or self destructs. China MS don't like playing Indian MS! Missed seeing Qiao Bin.
No doubt Lin Dan's stamina has improved recently post-Rio'16 but I'd have thought if he were fitter still we would be seeing him play a bit more aggressively and with more injection of pace against a formidable opponent of Chen Long's caliber. In the match, I could see Chen Long returning a lot of Lin Dan's shots resulting in several punishing rallies which seemed to slow him down a bit at times and forcing him to construct the rally more than he would like to. I mean, in other words, if Lin Dan's opponent wasn't Chen Long, someone whom, as we know, is supremely fit and capable of amazing retrieving ability as demonstrated, Lin Dan's current fitness level would probably be sufficient to break down his opponent's resistance without fear of being overturned in the final moments. Throughout the 78-minute hard-fought match, Chen Long could stretch Lin Dan to the limit when most other opponents couldn't lately. That's just my thought.
I watched the match earlier between Chen Long and Lin Dan. What I can say is that Lin Dan played very well with powerful smash and good defence. However, Chen Long's super accurate shots and net play is what hurts Lin Dan the most. Overall, it is quite an amazing match to watch live.
