Malaysian Open - Results
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wilfredlgf
Regular Member
I noticed that there seems to quite a hint of 'bad blood' from the opponent of Zhou Mi every time she plays, most recently Camilla who swore and hit the shuttle out of exasperation during the second set.
The last time I saw this was when she played against Wang Chen and I noticed as if they harbour some sort of animosity to each other.
Zhou's a master tactician in mental games? Or are her shots too good and frustrates the opponent?
Or is it just me?
The last time I saw this was when she played against Wang Chen and I noticed as if they harbour some sort of animosity to each other.
Zhou's a master tactician in mental games? Or are her shots too good and frustrates the opponent?
Or is it just me?
Loh
Regular Member
Somehow, when the Korean XD pair meets the Chinese pair, the former seems more asssured and confident of themselves. The Korean pair seems to understand each other better and therefore has the advantage and upper hand.
When Ra Kyun Min plays in the LD, she isn't that devastating. But with Kim Dong Moon in the XD, she guards the net so well that nothing seems to get by her and she is so sharp with her smashes and net play. Often she is the one who creates the opportunities for Kim to finish off the rallies with powerful smashes.
I somewhat sense a slight dip in Gao Ling's play during the recent Southeast Asian Opens. She and her partner, Huang Shi have lost twice to their compatriots, Yang Wei & Zhang Jiewen at the S'pore Open and the just concluded M'sian Open.
Has Gao been distracted lately because of Chen Hong? On the other hand, Chen has found fresh energy in their relationship to feature in all the three Finals and won two of them!
It would appear to me that Gao is currently the weaker link in the Chinese XD configuration.
When Ra Kyun Min plays in the LD, she isn't that devastating. But with Kim Dong Moon in the XD, she guards the net so well that nothing seems to get by her and she is so sharp with her smashes and net play. Often she is the one who creates the opportunities for Kim to finish off the rallies with powerful smashes.
I somewhat sense a slight dip in Gao Ling's play during the recent Southeast Asian Opens. She and her partner, Huang Shi have lost twice to their compatriots, Yang Wei & Zhang Jiewen at the S'pore Open and the just concluded M'sian Open.
Has Gao been distracted lately because of Chen Hong? On the other hand, Chen has found fresh energy in their relationship to feature in all the three Finals and won two of them!
It would appear to me that Gao is currently the weaker link in the Chinese XD configuration.
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Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen supposedly has always been the strongest combination since the reshuffle in WD late last year. They had beaten Ge Fei/Gu Jun in the Chinese National Games final before. Zhang was down with appendicitis the beginning of this year and had to skip some tournaments and this is probably why their ranking has been lower than Wei/Zhao and Gao/Huang.
I believe Yang/Zhang might have made it three in a row had they not conceded a walkover in the Indonesian Open.
I agree with Loh that Ra/Kim look more confident than Zhang/Gao on court. Ra probably can't perform as well in WD because it is much more physically demanding on her part. It seems more and more difficult for Ra to recover from long tiring matches due to her age. Lee KW isn't powerful enough to share her load either.
Zhang/Gao are making each fight a closer one than the one before. And for WD, they have MANY pairs who can adopt the right strategy to wear Ra out, which might affect both her XD and WD (just like they did in WC2001).
I believe Yang/Zhang might have made it three in a row had they not conceded a walkover in the Indonesian Open.
I agree with Loh that Ra/Kim look more confident than Zhang/Gao on court. Ra probably can't perform as well in WD because it is much more physically demanding on her part. It seems more and more difficult for Ra to recover from long tiring matches due to her age. Lee KW isn't powerful enough to share her load either.
Zhang/Gao are making each fight a closer one than the one before. And for WD, they have MANY pairs who can adopt the right strategy to wear Ra out, which might affect both her XD and WD (just like they did in WC2001).
Zhang Jun has one of the most powerful smashes that always creates problem to the female player on the other side. But other than that, Kim is better than him in all other areas. Ra can concentrate at staying in front and intercept shots, but Gao doesn't have to luxury of doing that.