BITBURGER OPEN 09 QF - Denmark Looking Strong

Saturday, 03 October 2009 01:02

The Danes will be eying a possible 4 gold medals on Sunday, with a potential all-Danish final in the men's singles event, where Vittinghus and Jorgensen have secured their tickets for the semi-finals.

By Raphael Sachetat. Photos: Sven Heise (live)

Denmark may have not sent their very best players but the "second knives" are currently doing their job in Saarbrucken, Germany. On the eve of the semi-finals, some of them may even have to skip the famous players' party to go to bed early and prepare for their semi-final matches.

That will be the case for 9th seed Hans Kristian Vittinghus (pictured) who could see this tournament as a possible breakthrough, with an impressive week so far. The 4th best Dane will have to go one extra step to reach the final of the event, with in-form Eric Pang as his next bit09-klarina;Jorgensen

opponent. On the other side of the draw, Jan O Jorgensen seems more and more confortable and spends less and less time as rounds go by. In the quarter-finals, he crucified Ville Lang from Finland 21-16, 21-10.

The discipline certain to be missing from a prospective near-sweep by the Danes is the women's singles, with the last player from Denmark, Karina Jorgensen (photo) out of the tournament, beaten by top seed Juliane Schenk. The German will have a tough battle ahead with Yao Jie in the semis, while Yu Hirayama of Japan and Russia's Ella Diehl fight for the other spot.

Denmark with three pairs, England and host Germans with two will be the favourite nations in the doubles and mixed events, unless top seeds Kumar and Thomas of India manage to take gold back to their home country, as could Japan's Hirayama/Kurihara in the ladies' doubles.

All results HERE

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