I'm so glad I didn't stay up till 3 am to watch them lose. What seemed like an easy victory turned out to be a tight 2-game loss. I realised when the score gets tight above 22 all or something, they never actually win the set. Good luck in the east asian leg, I guess. People are always blaming Arisa and her shoddy defence but Yuta hasn't been back to his best in a long while either.
yes. they need to be good at the same time to win. When one is on form, the other is off. vice versa. it's frustrating! Now I root for YamaShino to win this.
Ratchanok reached the finals with possibly the easiest draw ever. First round against Ksenia POLIKARPOVA (who?), easy second round against her teammate Supanida KATETHONG, quarter finals against Wen Chi HSU (who?), got a walkover in semi-fanals, and voila she's in to the finals...
Easier than a S100 event. To be fair, draws for each of the Top 4 seeds were pretty easy, it's a very smart move of the federations who chose to send their top players here, easy points and confidence before bigger tourneys. AY and PVS were not as fortunate as RI and have to face eachother in the SF, while BZ isn't bad herself, but certainly a class below the other three ladies. What was already a weak field had Christmas surprises enroute, BO retired, BWZ WDN (++ for RI) Natsuki withdrew and GFJ looked unfit (++ PVS)
Damn forgot how hot Sogaard was, watching him play after a long time. Unfortunately I think the Japanese duo are more stable and consistent in shot making in this decider. The commentator said Saito is 30 now, unbelievable.
They somehow pulled it off, never seen so many flicks in one game, almost always effective. More screentime for Sogaard, Great.
This Taiwanese pair defeated Watanabe/Higashino? Is Hsu injured or something? She looked like she was playing at 50% effort the whole time. Got to say this semi-finals match against the Danes has to be the lowest quality semi-finals I've ever seen in a 500 event.
PVS played a solid game today, AY just better. I think PVS just couldn't keep the same quality in her shots in second half of both games after witnessing none of her shots penetrating AY's defense
That was one entertaining match. Very high speed and quality. Sindhu clearly is getting back to better form and with a more attacking style to boot. I didn't expect much from AY to be honest, given her performances this week, but this was a pleasant surprise from both players. I had feared Sindhu was potentially heading into retirement like Okuhara, RI, and CM seem to be doing, but judging from her improved form, she will make a run for the Olypics at least.
Lakshya smashed 410 KMPH Smash in today's match against Nishimoto also most of all his smashes were above 400 eg 406,410 and 403...I dunno for sure but it has to be one of the fastest smashes in MS presently...I believe Viktors fastest was 404 and LCWs 408 so lakshya's could smash could be top 2 or 3 in MS history
fastest were about 417-418-419, There are many players who can smash this fast: Lee CW, Momota, Chou Tien Chen, Viktor,... This can be limit. But Lakshya Sen can smash within a range of 400-410, this can be due to nanoflare 1000z
