VICTOR KOREA OPEN QF - Quintuple Happiness for Chinese Doubles

Friday, 15 January 2010 15:45

China capped off a perfect day with three doubles victories late in day as the 2010 Victor Korea Open Super Series heads into the home stretch.

By Don Hearn, Badzine Correspondent, live in Seoul. Photos: Yves Lacroix, BadmintonPhoto (live)

Despite having sent only a few good men and women to Seoul this winter, China still has a shot at sweeping the medals and even has a shot at three all-Chinese finals. But the highlight of the day was the win by Cai Yun / Fu Haifeng (pictured) over second-seeded Danes Boe/Mogensen.

The last time reigning World Champions Cai/Fu won here in Seoul was two years ago, when they had to edge past the same Danish pair in the semi-finals. This time, their quarter-final was just as gripping, even if it was played before a small and subdued group of spectators, save for a few excited young females supporting the Chinese pair.

In the first game, the normally impenetrable defense of the Chinese was showing soft spots against the leaping, sharply-angled smashes of the Danes. Still, Cai/Fu were the more consistent and, of course, brought their own punishing attacks to bear and took the first game 21-1? The second game belonged to the Danes as they varied the pace, reined in their errors, and kept the Chinese guessing.

The deciding game was neck-and-neck throughout but the Danes managed to give themselves a cushion of 14-11 before the Chinese got down to business and gave chase, surging, eventually to 19-17, only to have a determined Danish pair begin to reel them in once more. In the end, it was two heartbreaking errors on attacking opportunities by Carsten Mogensen that gave the Chinese the crucial two points that sent them to the semi-finals.

Earlier, youngsters Zhang Nan / Chai Biao continued their brilliant run with a hard-fought victory over Korea’s no. 2 pair of Yoo Yeon Seong / Ko Sung Hyeon. Zhang/Chai had been beaten handily in the East Asian Games by Ko/Yoo’s compatriots Kwon/Kim but they had no intention of being embarrassed twice, even on their opponents’ home ground.

In the deciding game, the Chinese played just suberb defense and Ko/Yoo just could not get the shuttle to the floor. Zhang/Chai, after taking out the number two pairs from Denmark and Korea, must now get the chance to test their mettle against the home favourites as Lee Yong Dae / Jung Jae Sung gave their compatriots Kim Ki Jung / Shin Baek Cheol no quarter. Cai/Fu, meanwhile, face the darkhorses from Japan, Yoshiteru Hirobe / Hiroyuki Endo, who made impossibly quick work of Indonesian third seeds Hendra Aprida Gunawan / Alvent Yulianto Chandra, beating them 21-14, 21-7 in just 18 minutes!

Only one of three Japanese pairs survived the women’s doubles quarter-finals, meanwhile. Shizuka Matsuo / Mami Naito struggled just to stay with top seeds Cheng Shu / Zhao Yunlei (pictured above) but the Japanese pair’s late 15-14 lead was erased by a six-point run by the Chinese favourites, who went on to win it 21-9, 21-17.

Mizuki Fujii / Reika Kakiiwa moved past their younger compatriots to reach their first-ever Super Series semi-final, against two more such rookies, Jung Kyung Eun and Yoo Hyun Young (pictured). The two high school classmates, who were reunited as a pair late last summer, exhibited an all-around assault to beat Super Series Master Finals runners-up Duanganong Aroonkesorn / Kunchala Voravichitchaikul 21-13 21-17.

For complete quarter-final results from the 2010 Victor Korea Open Super Series, CLICK HERE

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