St. Jakobshalle, Basel txt: Dille Anderse, WBSO Int.Press Pi Hongyan, FRA, and Zhang Ning, CHN, met just a week ago in the semifinal of the All England, playing absolutely fantastic. It was three very tight games, which ended in favour of Pi Hongyan! Today's re-match didn't have exactly the same excitement as last week but there where absolutely glimpses of the same fighter spirit from both players. In the first game Pi was 13-11 up, only to find herself 17-20 a few minutes later. She lost the first game 17-21 on a beautiful drop shot dfrom Zhang Ning. Not letting that get her down Pi speeded up her game in the second. She seems to be in the form of her life at the moment and got a 16-9 lead that she never really let go of. She took second game 21-10. Neither one of the players wanted to give anything away for free so the rallies got really long at times, with great variations of shots. In the third Zhang quickly got a 3-0 lead, Pi equalizing to 3 all, but then the French girl seemed drained for confidence although she at moments ate her way in on Zhangs lead. But from 11-4 Zhang seemed to have gotten her second wind and she held on to it. If it was possible to transfer the audience's enthusiasm in this text, we would certainly do so. This match enjoyed the full attention here in St. Jakobshalle! The match was decided by 4 faults of Pi, hitting the lines on the wrong side! Zhang took the final game 21-15. It has not yet been decided who she will meet in the semifinal Saturday.
It's good to see Pi improved her game to another level. With her experience and the 21 NSS, she has a good chance to create some trouble for the CHN lady army, especially the younger generation.
