On the court, Momota is suffering from identity crisis. He can't understand whether he is a net dribbler, a desperate lifter, an attacking virtuoso, a defensive pusher, a blanket clearer.
Sumanth for real, im thinking about getting into that smash defend stance myself next time I go to clubpractice!! #TeamMomota
That wasn't all serious lol. In any case he seems to have found some colors. I like the way he used some real smashes in yesterday's match. There is a high chance he can go in the finals and meeting VA.
True. If he makes it to the Final, the match is going to be revealing about his current condition. Momota has been fairly lucky. The top half of the draw looked tough enough, but Ginting and Antonsen exited early on, and Tsuneyama may have done him a favour by taking out Heo Kwanghee.
Yeah - he did get Jonathan Christie though. Yes he was tired but Momota kept up with him and kept the pressure up. Which at some JC pushed maybe more than his body would allow him. In my opinion, the full smashes of Momota really helped in increasing the pressure that he could put and the pace. The faster conditions helped him as well. Today we will see how he does against Tommy - I am hoping that he can take him out. Then it will be VA. But VA has been waiting for this. He needs to open his counter against Momota. Momota's match will start around 7pm to 8pm Denmark's time at the earliest right?
Not that Sugiarto was ever going to pose much of a threat to Momo. But for anyone watching the match, the rally in the 2nd game at 19-10 felt very reminiscent of the kento prior to his ban in 2016, speed, aggression and a return to the around the head smashes.
Yes indeed! Which isn't too bad considering this is the badminton which made me become his fan to begin with. I hope it will be enough. Anyway my usual dark and grim predictions with hope he proves me wrong: The match will start and there will be some running from the get go. Axelsen will start to feel a bit annoyed. But somehow he will be able to keep the lead of Momota to a minimum. The first to 11 will be Momota with a lead of 1 point. Rallies would have been fairly long. During the interval however Kenneth will explain everything to Axelsen. As soon as they get back on court - Momota will continue the running game however Axelsen will use a thunderous crosscourt smash which Momota will be unable to retrieve. Momota immediately gets up and look at Axelsen as if to say - there is no way I could get that - sugoi wa omai. Right after this one Axelsen will use another crosscourt smash from overhead position and Momota will not be able to retrieve. At this point in time the match is turning out to be another Momota v Heo Kwanghee match. Momota will try to play the running game but he will not be able to because of his poor clears. He ends up losing the 1st game - 21-16 Second game starts in the same fashion when suddenly Momota starts to remember how he always played Axelsen. This is when he will remember how to use the neutralising shots. He will rack up for rallyful points. At 7-2 for Momota Axelsen will start to attack the neutral shots as he moves forward on court. Momota unable to use the neutral shots will resort to over clearing - Axelsen being tall and powerful will easily make the weather on Momota land 'smashy'. Finally Momota will start to challenge the net and is able to win some points. Unfortunately, his efforts were too little too late. The match ends at 21-18 Axelsen. #pleaseprovemewrongasusualMomota After winning the match point Axelsen fall to the ground and holding his hair while crying like biggest baby ever because beating Momota means a lot more to him. He goes to meet Momota in good sportsmanship and tell him to come back to his usual level for they are awesome rivals.
KM's progress to his old form has been splendid and we are seeing more and more glimpses of his 2019 peak. Though as much as I'd like KM to win and be wrong in my guess I'm going to place my bet on VA for this one. In the long term there's no doubt he'll come back with the way he's progressing now but we are seeing one player at their peak while the other merely showing more and more signs of his old self, which enough dominated SYC, SK, JC and TS, which itself is a testament of how "invincible" he was back then. Momota's net play and defence imo hasn't progressed far back enough to handle Axelson, which may sound weird seeing how he handled LZJ but I'd say Viktor reacts a bit quicker when attacking as he uses his height to quickly place the shuttle down. Mind you Viktors defence is also superior to LZJ's which makes this significantly harder, but if anyone can rise up to the challenge then it's Momota for sure . If he does manage to hold his defence and handle Axelson at the net then it will be quite interesting to see whether VA will let his nerves add to the H2H in Momota's favour. Either way, win or lose we'll be seeing Momota coming back stronger than ever for sure in the near future. Also, #pleaseprovemewrongasusualMomota
Congrats KM on winning Denmark open, He didn't just win, tortured physically, spread the long legs real good.
