YONEX-SUNRISE SS FINALS Day 3 - Europeans Escape Elimination

The semi-finalists of the 2009 Super Series Masters Finals will see a good spread of Europeans and Asians. All 5 disciplines will be represented by at least one European flag bearer for the semi-finals, as European representatives from Denmark, England, Poland, Netherlands and Germany have squeezed their way through the round robin matches over the last 3 days.

By Jan Lin, reporting live from Johor Bahru. Photos: Eka Nickmathulhuda for Badmintonphoto (live)

The third day of the 2009 Super Series Masters Finals saw the arsenal of Danish guns strolling to comfortable victories with women’s doubles pair Kamilla Rytter Juhl / Lena Frier Kristiansen and men’s singles player Jan O Jorgensen beating their opponents in straight games in the morning.

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Rytter Juhl/Frier Kristiansen earned their ticket to the semi-finals after dismantling the Canadian-German pair of Charmaine Reid and Nicole Grether 21-10, 21-7 in a lop-sided affair. Meanwhile, on the adjacent court, the Danes' young compatriot in the men’s singles discipline, Jan O Jorgensen, avenged his compatriot Peter Gade when he outwitted their round-robin group leader Park Sung Hwan 21-19, 21-13. Though Jorgensen already faced elimination, he was determined not to head home without winning a game. The flamboyant Dane unabashedly rallied for crowd support, wherein he found the drive he needed to come from behind to steal the first game and brought much cheer to his new-found fans.

Like a new man enjoying the match of his life, Jorgensen unleashed an aggressive assault in the second game and raced to a 7-0 lead that left the in-form Park visibly clueless and the Korean never recovered from then on. Park had disposed of Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana on the opening day before defeating Gade in 3 games yesterday to secure his ticket to the semi-finals. Gade needed to beat Boonsak in their final round robin game to secure a ticket to the semi-finals and he eventually did so in a tenacious fashion, beating the Thai by scores of 21-13, 20-22, 21-15.

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“It was a tough and long match,” said Gade. “I should have won in the second but he was lucky in the end and I had to start all over again in the third. I’m pretty proud (of the victory), he’s a young guy and I still fight, you know, this was a fighting game and I’m proud of that.”

“Yeah I’m feeling a bit old right now,” admitted Gade with a laugh. “I (had) hope to meet Bao (Chunlai) instead of Chong Wei in the semi-final for sure,” Gade shared after his match, “though, Chong Wei is playing at home, all the pressure is on him and I’ve beaten him before. I’ve beaten Bao as well but he is in-form and playing really good this year, it’s a different game but I don’t mind playing him in the semis.”

“But if it’s Chong Wei, I’m going to fight the best I can!” Gade remarked. “As I’ve said, all the pressure is on him. He cannot lose to an old man!” Gade will, however, not get his wish as the men’s singles top seed Lee Chong Wei outplayed China’s Bao Chunlai in the final round robin game of their group 21-13, 21-11. Gade will take on Lee in the semi-final while Bao awaits Park.

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Indians to salvage Asian pride?

An all-European mixed doubles final may be in the cards as the Europeans are assured of one representative in the mixed doubles final, which will be the winner of the Danish-English affair in one of the semi-final matches.

Both Denmark’s Joachim Fischer Nielsen / Christinna Pedersen and England’s Anthony Clark / Donna Kellogg secured their semi-final berths after defeating their Korean and Indonesian counterparts respectively.

Fischer Nielsen/Pedersen beat Ko Sung Hyun / Ha Jung Eun 21-17, 21-15, while Clark/Kellogg beat Hendra Aprida Gunawan / Vita Marissa 21-15, 16-21, 21-15 to set up a face-off with their Danish neighbours. The Polish pair of Robert Mateusiak / Nadiezda Kostiuczyk (photo top) had already stormed into the semi-finals on Thursday with back-to-back victories but they completed their hat-trick by beating Thailand’s Sudket Prapakamol / Saralee Thoungthongkam in their final round robin game. The Poles will play the only non-European pair, Diju V / Jwala Gutta of India, who also defeated a Thai pair of Songphon Anugritayawon / Kunchala Voravichitchaukul in their final round robin game.

Likewise in the women’s singles, India’s wonder girl Saina Nehwal (photo), who has finished runner-up in her group behind Wong Mew Choo after beating Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in straight games, will face a stern test against Germany’s Juliane Schenk in the semi-final. Schenk has had a fulfilling year breaking into the top 10 and beating world number 1 Wang Yihan at the 2009 World Championships. Though Schenk (photo) was defeated by the Thai mighty mouse Salakjit SSfinals-schenk

Ponsana in their gruelling final round robin game (20-22, 21-9, 21-23), her earlier round robin victories against Yao Jie of the Netherlands and compatriot Nicole Grether were sufficient to give her top spot. Second-placed Yao Jie will play Wong Mew Choo in the other semi-final. Wong bagged a hat-trick of wins in the round robin group stage.

But the local darling was a last minute invitee to the Super Series Finals after reigning World Champion, Lu Lan, pulled out at the eleventh hour. Wong quickly proved that she deserved to be in Johor by defeating the women’s singles top seed Saina in their opening game on Wednesday.

“Wong Mew Choo played very well against me,” Saina shared. “I was a little scared but confident too because I’ve been beating her. I guess it (the loss) was because it was my first match and also I was just making a few simple mistakes at half-court. Many shots were just going out. I wasn’t accurate.”

“It’s the first time I’m the top seed in some Super Series and reaching the semi-finals here will be one of the highlights for me this year,” said Saina, who was the 2008 World Junior Champion. “It has been a very good year in terms of performing at every Super Series. I may not have won many but I’ve been playing in quarters and semis, which helped me to maintain my top ten ranking.”

Saina added: “The pressure has become greater after I won the Indonesian Open and nothing can be done as there is no one else in India playing at this level. But I’m getting used to it and there are a lot of things I do to reduce the pressure such as meditation, I read a lot of non-fiction books and watch a lot of Indian movies, just to be away from the game sometimes, and not think too much about it.”

Semi-finals Line-up:

MS: Peter Gade (DEN) vs. Lee Chong Wei (MAS)
Bao Chunlai (CHN) vs. Park Sung Hwan (KOR)

WS: Wong Mew Choo (MAS) vs. Yao Jie (NED)
Saina Nehwal (IND) vs. Juliane Schenk (GER)

MD: Lee/Jung (KOR) vs. Abdul Latif/Tazari (MAS)
Boe/Mogensen (DEN) vs. Guo/Xu (CHN)

WD: Chin/Wong (MAS) vs. Aroonkesorn / Voravichitchaikul (THA)
Chien /Cheng (TPE) vs. Rytter Juhl / Frier Kristiansen (DEN)

Mx: Mateusiak/Kostiuczyk (POL) vs. Diju/Gutta (IND)
Clark/Kellogg (ENG) vs. Fischer Nielsen /Pedersen (DEN)

For complete results from Day 3 of the 2009 Yonex-Sunrise BWF World Super Series Master Finals, CLICK HERE

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