Friday meant quarterfinals at DANISA DENMARK OPEN 2018 presented by VICTOR - a day marked by many exciting games, including a few surprise upsets, several thrillers, as well as a number of blowouts.
Indonesian superstars, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, who have shown absolute superiority in both last and this year, concluded the day with a dominant/shock win/loss against Japanese underdogs, Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi, at a final score of 21-17, 21-15.
Playing on home soil, Anders Antonsen caused ecstasy in the venues in Odense after winning against Huang Yuxiang in what turned out to be a thrilling seance. After taking home the first game comfortably, Antonsen lost to an equally dominant performance by the Chinese player in the second game. In an intense third set, Antonsen was down 17-20 before treating the Danish crowd to an unbelievable comeback, exploding in joy as the shuttle fell to the ground in the final rally of the match. 22-20.
- It was a wild, wild game. It went back and forth, and near the end it looked like it was almost over, but then I take the win. It was crazily awesome, declared Antonsen after the game.
Korea’s world nr. 1, Kento Momota, took an expected and comfortable win against Thai underdog, Khosit Pethpradab, who, despite initially tagging along in the first game, never stood a real chance. Momota proceeded to the semifinals with a score of 21-13, 21-9.
In a similar manner to Momota, Zheng/Huang won in superiority against the british constellation of Chris and Gabrielle Adcock, sweeping them out of the playing field in style with a final score of 21-12, 21-9.
- We will be ourselves, do what we normally do and work hard, said Zheng after the game when asked how they would prepare for the semifinals on Saturday.
Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir crushed Mathias Christiansen/Christinna Pedersen on their home turf in what was at first a nerve-racking thriller of a game that had the crowd on the edge on their seats, and subsequently an outright display of supremacy from the Indonesian olympic gold medalists, who won 26-24, 21-10.
In upset-land, English duo Marcus Ellis/Chris Langridge surprised for the second day in a row. Their opponents, South Korean Liao Min Chun/Su Ching Heng, did not let the englishmen get away with the win without effort, however, taking the first game and putting up an honorable fight in the third: 16-21, 21-16, 22-20.
Earlier in the afternoon, a clash between two of of the top women’s single players, Tai Tsu Ying and Chen Yufei, played out in three sets. Despite of this, the match was never really very close, the Taiwanese player taking the first game with pure force, Chen Yufei returning the favor in the second game, and Tai Tzu Ying blowing the Chinese youngster out of the court once again in the third game. Final score: 21-13, 12-21, 21-9.
In other news, VICTOR DENMARK JUNIOR 2018 presented by DANISA continued on its third day in a tournament where over 1000 young players from around the world participate.
This year, for the first time ever, Badminton Denmark opened the doors to VICTOR DENMARK PARA 2018 presented by DANISA. It is an international tournament that shows, that the Danish event, is an event for everyone!