YONEX IRISH INT'L SF - Marin Comes of Age

Saturday, 05 December 2009 23:20

Dublin, Ireland plays host to the final International Challenge of the European calendar year and as the seeds began to fall, it was young Spanish sensation Carolina Marin who seized her opportunity as she blasted her way to Sunday’s final after coming through Thursday’s qualifying.

By Mark Phelan (Live). Photos: BadmintonPhoto.com (Live in Dublin)

Over the course of the past year, there has been ever increasing murmurings of a new talent emerging from Spain in women’s singles. Today that talent burst through the doors of reality as Carolina Marin (pictured) booked her place in the final of the Irish International with a powerful display of badminton in the semi-final against Rong Bo of China.

The young Spanish wonder, having blasted her way through qualification, saw off the challenge of number 3 seed Linda Zetchiri in the second round before eventually overcoming the stubborn challenge of Denmark-based Chinese Rong Bo in today’s semi-final.

In tomorrow’s final, the Spanish wonder will face off against the vastly experienced Rachel Van Cutsen as the Dutch number 5 seed ended the run of recent Scottish International winner Susan Egelstaff in the quarter-finals before seeing off the challenge of English stalwart Elizabeth Cann in the semi-final with both matches going to three sets.

In the men’s singles, there was continued 2009 joy for Peter Mikkelsen as the Dane reached his fourth final this year with a victory over fellow Dane Rune Ulsing in today’s semi-final. Mikkelsen, who is now going for a hat trick of 2009 EBU wins, took three sets to see off Ulsing, who himself had a good tournament with a trip to the semi-finals after a detour through qualification on Thursday.

“This was a close game today with Rune,” said a confident Mikkelsen after his decisive semi-final victory. “I knew that if I won the first set he would be under pressure as he has had a long week here with many games, including qualification. He just got tired in the final set and in the end it was pretty easy for me. I feel very confident going into tomorrow’s final as I am coming to the end of a very good year for me and I know my game is in good shape.”

Mikkelsen will play Henri Hurskainen (pictured) in Sunday’s final as the Swede beat recent Iceland International winner Christian Lind in 2 sets in today’s semi-final. Hurskainen has pretty much flown under the radar this week in advancing to the final and will be sure to be in a confident mood ahead of tomorrow’s final.

“I have played well here this week and my confidence has grown with each match,” commented the Swede after his semi-final victory. “I didn’t expect to beat Lind as easily as I did today as he has been in good form but now I know my own game is in good shape so I will be giving it my all in the final and I hope I can play well one more game and win.”

The three doubles finals will be a straight shootout between Denmark and England. As expected, Danish giants Conrad Petersen and Pieler Kolding advanced with a victory over fellow Danes Bonde and Mollyhus. In tomorrow’s final, they will face fifth seeds Ellis and Mills as the English duo outplayed number 1 seeds from Russia Ivanov and Sosonov in two sets.

Maz Agathangelou will contest both the mixed and women’s doubles finals with Robin Middleton and Heather Olver respectively. Her opponents in the mixed will be number 1 seeds Mie Schjoett Kristensen and Mikkel Delbo Larsen (pictured) after the Danes took over an hour to fend off the stiff challenge of Heather Olver and Marcus Ellis. In the women’s doubles, the English pair will confront the unexpected challenge of Maria Helsbol and Anne Skelbaek as the young and less recognised Danish pair were visibly overjoyed in defeating Scottish duo Jillie Cooper and Emma Mason in yet another tough three-game encounter.

For complete semi-final results from the 2009 Yonex Irish International Challenge, CLICK HERE

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