Had it not been the slippery court or defective shoes, Tian's phobia would not have arised to taint his otherwise clinical display.
Line up for tomorrows QFs on court 1... Again JFN/CP vs LC/BY. I really don´t want to see it again. How many times was this match on the tv court the last tournaments?! Why not put no.1 vs. no.6 instead? I also don´t like to see this MD when there is Lee/Yoo vs. Liu/Zihan... I believe the latter would provide more spectacle. But while the second decision is reasonalbe (and just my personal opinion), the first MX should be another choice. But w/e the other 4 matches should be very close (well WD mh not really I fear) and interesting. I predict Liu/Bao, Saina, Huan/Tian, Ahsan/Setiawan and Chen Long to make semis. There are also 3 all CHN matches. Will be intersting whether they are played out... Hope to see LD in the SF! Putra Stadium - Court1 1. Starting at 3:15 PM XD ZHANG Nan [1] China ZHAO Yunlei China - Korea KO Sung Hyun [6] Korea KIM Ha Na -------------- 2. Starting at 5:00 PM XD LIU Cheng [7] China BAO Yixin China - Denmark Joachim FISCHER NIELSEN [2] Denmark Christinna PEDERSEN 3. Followed by WS Saina NEHWAL [3] India - China SUN Yu 4. Followed by MD Hiroyuki ENDO [5] Japan Kenichi HAYAKAWA Japan - Indonesia Mohammad AHSAN [4] Indonesia Hendra SETIAWAN 5. Followed by WD HUAN Xia [8] China TIAN Qing China - Malaysia Vivian Kah Mun HOO Malaysia Khe Wei WOON 6. Followed by MS CHEN Long [1] China - Japan Kento MOMOTA
I must say, I didn't watch Srikanth at Swiss and Indian Opens. But I did today. Though he lost, but for me he was the more creative player with a greater variety of strokes. It is understandable for him to lose, coz he has literally been playing now for 3 consecutive weeks! Fatigue is understandable. For Tian Houwei, I think he played a relatively consistent game. But if he has to rise higher, he needs to work on his attack. He doesn't intimidate anyone. His defense is good. He must work on some disguise shots as well.
Two of my favourite players -Srikanth and Ratchanok - went out in a similar fashion. They suffered the same fate. Both these attacking players came up against brilliant defensive players and didn't have enough energy left in tank to fight and win. TWH was great all credits to him. This will definitely make Srikanth grow stronger. On the good side- this means they(Sri and RI) will get some extra time to recover for Singapore. This also means Saina remains the lone survivor for India. Good going Saina, keep it up.
This makes it easy for LYB to disband WXL/YY. With the impending exit of Huang YaQiong from XD, she may be the new Ma Jin for WXL, if LYB does not put all eggs in a single basket with WXL/ZYL combo.
Once Tian found the correct length (& height) in the 2nd game, Srikanth's wings are clipped as he could no longer attack & penetrate Tian's defense.
There was a nine-day break between the Swiss Open and the IND Open SS before this MAS Open. And Xue Song also played in all the three tournaments, with semifinal appearances for both the Swiss and the IND tourneys with 4 extra qualifier matches to progress to the QFs here tomorrow. That speaks volumes of his physical condition. I'm afraid even if he can overcome WZM tomorrow he'll probably be up against Chen Long in the semifinal, too big a hurdle for this young man. But it's the kind of grueling test that he needs to toughen up and realize his full potential. Still a lot of room for improvement.
Interesting scenario. What you suggested sounds good. So Lu Kai partners Ma Jin for XD with HYQ and XC both out. Drop Yu Yang and combine WXL with ZYL.
You know, yesterday Srikanth said he was feeling tired. For me there was a bad omen right there. I agree that Srikanth was in control. But THW played a remarkable defesive game. One of the best defensive games I have seen. THW had a very simple plan. Do what he does best- defend - and Srikanth simply didn't have that extra energy - physical and mental - to find the next gear.
Having exactly the same feeling.. But I like NO as well so no problem!! However I am tensed for SN too!! She must be tired and Sun You is in great form.. She must be aware and mustn't waste too much of energy a three setter would go the young CHN way!! Although none of us would've expected too much from KS as he must be suffering from intensive fatigue but still 2R is way too early.. Very happy to see XS win, I really adore this young lad.. Go XS go and beat your unpredictable, hopeless brat senior WZM...
I think LYB should do the fill Drop YY WXL/HYQ (maybe a nice WD) And Lu kai shall concentrate on MD (CHN really needs one descent pair) For XD ZZ are good enough
Well,it's going to be tough for Saina. But she won relatively easily today, and Sun Yu played a long one. So that should balance it somewhat. Plus I think Saina will have extra motivation in this MOSSP coz she hasn't done that well here in the past. My guess will be that she would like to win in Malaysia and relax in Singapore. If she plays to her recent form, Saina should win even though Sun Yu is also in great form.
His 2 qualifying matches against the 2 Danes were any thing but easy and after that he can still play until the QF, not forgetting that something may be wrong with SWH. He must be very fit. Lets see how far he can progress
Talking about playing three consecutive tournaments without breaks - at least the Swiss and the IND SS has a 10-day break if you're in the finals of both minus the qualification rounds - I'd say Chou Tien Chen deserves special mention with a remarkable run last year. But I won't recommend it, what if you're in the final in at least two consecutive tourneys with no break in-between? LXR going into the finals of every event she played in is a prime example of what could happen, higher risk of injury, that is.
True, the two Danes here in the qualifiers , Rasmus Fladberg and esp Emil Holst, were no easy meat and the two matches occurred in one day. As for SWH, oldhand said he had a minor leg injury and possibly wanted to play it safe in this tournament, so I won't read too much into XS win over him. But XS's victory against Hsu JH today with the score of 21-17 and 21-9 is noteworthy considering XS's physical state having played so many matches already. All in all, I'm heartened that XS is making good progress and look forward to seeing him make a big breakout soon and start winning SS titles.
Almost entire stadium is empty? . For a SSP tournament and one of Powerful badminton nation, it seems quite unusual to me. They lost interest?
