Quick
Roundup:
Rasmussen survives, Chen falls,
Danes on a roll, Dan denied, Lee stays in ...
The first match on the centre court was a real thriller, as
former champion Tine Rasmussen, unseeded this year
survived three match points in the second game before coming
back to beat sixth seed Lu Lan from China, to the delight
of the massed ranks of Danish supporters at the NIA.
A second upset followed soon after when Japan's unseeded
Kenichi Tago beat 2008 champion Chen Jin in three
games.
Shortly afterwards the Danes recorded two more magnificent
victories as Peter Gade beat Taufik Hidayat 20-22,
22-20, 22-20, and moments later Mathias Boe & Carsten
Morgensen beat world champions Cai Yun & Fu Haifeng
21-17, 18-21, 21-18 and the packed ranks went wild for a third
time ...
No sooner
had that excitement subsided, the crowd settled down to see if
defending men's champion Dan Lin could see off the
challenge of his eighth-seeded compatriot Bao Chuniai.
The answer was he couldn't, the former world silver medalist won
21-16, 18-21, 21-17 in just over the hour to cause another
upset.
After a
game and a half it looked like a seismic shock was on the cards
with Korean qualifier Shon Wan Ho a game and 7-4 up
against top seed Lee Chong Wei. The Malaysian was in no
mood for an upset though as he stepped up a gear to reach the
semi-finals.
Rasmussen comes back from the dead again Richard Eaton
Tine Rasmussen, who caused a
sensation by beating Lu Lan to win the All-England title in
2008, caused another by saving three match points to beat her
again and reach the semi-finals.
The
unseeded Danish player who has had problems with injuries in
recent months beat the sixth-seeded world champion by 16-21,
23-21, 21-11, ensuring that no Chinese player can come through
to the final in the
bottom half.
The victory also brought memories of Rasmussen's remarkable
semi-final last year when she saved match points to beat another
Chinese player Jiang Yanjiao.
This time it looked even more likely she would lose, for when
she went 18-20 down in the second game to Lu she had been far
from her best.
But
saving the match points gave her the inspiration to arrive
earlier to meet the shuttle, to reduce the errors, and get the
first telling blow into the rally a little more often.
I was relying on my memories of two years ago, Rasmussen said,
with a dazzling smile. And I have not done that since my
comeback in the semi-finals last year.
I just feel at home here. Even though I made some stupid
mistakes I just believe in myself here.
On the first match point Rasmussen
produced a good overhead drop, which made Lu lift the shuttle
wide, on the second she again got the shuttle tight to the net,
inducing a lifting error, and on the third at 21-20 under
pressure she found a superb backhand block which went for a
down-the-line winner.
Asked
how she had managed to save them, Rasmussen said:I just let go.
I was thinking to make her win her own point, and if I lost I
would still not be angry because I did just the best I could
do.
Instead in the final game she was as completely on top as she
had been under the cosh early in the match, when she went 3-12
down and looked flimsy, careworn, and shackled.
It was hard to recognise Rasmussen as the same player when she
was striding to victory in the third game, 5-1 and 10-2 up in no
time, bristling with freshly re-discovered self-belief, fire in
her eyes and quite unstoppable.
It showed me that when I play my best I always have a chance of
winning, said Rasmussen, who plays Saina Nehwal, the
seventh seeded Indian who won 21-8, 21-14 against Juliana Schenk
of Germany.
It means a Chinese player cannot reach the final in the bottom
half. I think it's nice it will not be a Chinese player,
Rasmussen said. We like the Chinese at their best, and showing
emotions. But it's good to have others in the semi-finals too.
Nehwal
agreed. "We need other countries to do well," the winner of the
Indonesian Super Series said.
Nehwal also thought she was playing better now than when she
made that breakthrough becoming the first Indian woman to play
at the very highest level.
"My backhand has improved and my game has improved," she said.
"Touch wood, tomorrow I shall be even better."
The one-sidedness of her victory over Schenk made it hard to
gauge how far that improvement had gone. Her opponent was hardly
in it in the first game, and although she picked up in the
second, the German looked too jaded to do herself justice.
"She had a tough last week and I think she was tired," said
Nehwal generously. "I was getting points in the long rallies. I
feel comfortable here, and feel I can do well again."
Later
the other leading Chinese player, Wang Yihan, the
top-seeded titleholder, also had moments when it seemed she
might not make it.
Wang was 7-11 down in the final game against Zhou Mi, the former
world number one, who now represents Hong Kong instead of China,
before coming back to win 21-9, 11-21, 21-17.
The 30-year-old Zhou started slowly, and faded slightly the more
Wang moved her about in the later staged of the match, but in
between scored well with some great disguises and rhythmic
accuracy.
"The second game felt quite windy to me," said Wang. "But it's
never easy playing against Zhou. Each match is getting harder
and harder now, so I need to focus to make sure I play well."
Lin
Dan's record bid comes to an end Richard Eaton
Lin
Dan, the World and Olympic champion, had his bid to achieve
an open era record of five All-England titles halted by his
sixth-seeded compatriot Bao Chunlei.
Lin, who had previously appeared a class above the field and
seemed odds on to reach the semi-finals when leading 10-4 in the
final game, then slipped unaccountably to a 21-16, 17-21, 21-17
defeat.
The greatest player of the modern era seemed unwilling to hit
the shuttle down with any frequency and, allowed opportunities
to attack himself, Bao, a former world silver medallist, showed
how effective he can be.
I didn't think I played that badly, said Lin. I was quite
good. But halfway through the the first game Bao started playing
really well.
Despite that Lin kept his nose in front all the way though the
second game, and played such an exquisite point to reach game
point, with two velvety half-pace smashes which opened up the
court, that he seemed to have everything under control.
He was also moving better than Bao, gliding economically around
and accelerating almost at will, that there were no hints of the
demise which was to follow.
But Lin lost the next seven points to go 11-14 down, suddenly
into his shell and producing a passive sequence of rallies and
slipping to 13-18.
He
played a brilliant point to get to 15-18 but spent most of the
remainder of the match lifting and clearing the shuttle, giving
Bao time to find an opening with his clever left-handed angles.
At the end Lin shook hands in a matter-of-fact way, and went to
pack his bags while Bao gave a muted celebration.
I have played Lin Dan many times and can't remember when I last
beat him, said Bao. But I was well rested which I needed to be
against him: I was able to play a faster game.
Bao now plays Kenichi Tago, the young Japanese player,
who played at high speed and with great defence to beat Chen
Jin, the third-seeded Chinese player who won the 2008
All-England, by 22-20, 19-21, 21-13.
The upset could conceivably help Peter Gade, the
33-year-old former world number one who has never relinquished
his dream of winning another All-England title, and who won a
thrilling repeat of the final he won in 1999.
Eleven years ago he beat Taufik Hidayat in three games
when the scoring was 15-up. Now he won 20-22, 22-20, 22-20,
coming back from 14-17 in the second game when it seemed that
Hidayat's often impressive attack was going to prevail.
Gade was also 1-8 down in the final game, but fought his way
back grittily, defending as best he could, and trying to keep
the pace of the rallies high enough so that there would be a
sprinkling of errors from the gifted Indonesian.
The
oldest man in the field was also fit enough to remain well
balanced and perfectly focused at the denouement, and the two
points he played at the end of both the second and third games
were among his best.
It seems a lifetime ago that we played in that final, laughed
Gade, who was asked how he managed to claw back the deficit when
a straight games defeat loomed.
I was thinking 'come on, let's feel that some of the rallies
can go my way' he replied. I don't need much, I need a little
tiny extra. And I got that feeling, I don't know how.
Gade now plays Lee Chong Wei, the top-seeded Malaysian,
with only one Chinese player, Bao, remaining in the men's
singles. There are two, Wang Yihan, the top-seeded titleholder,
and Wang Xin, the Malaysian Super Series champion, in the
women's singles, but China's chances of winning all five titles
took a big blow when Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, the world
men's doubles champions, were beaten.
Cai and Fu were beaten 21-17, 18-21, 21-18 by Mathias Boe and
Carsten Mogensen, in a spectacular finish in which Cai was
red-carded and roundly booed for hurling his racket on the next
court and kicking his kitbag fiercely into the arena curtains.
England's last hopes end in the quarters Richard Eaton
Is it time for Hawkeye action replays to be introduced into
badminton? They are hugely popular with spectators, if not one
hundred percent accurate, in tennis and they might eradicate the
kind of errors which contributed to the defeat of Nathan
Robertson and Jenny Wallwork in a tight finish.
The
English pair were beaten 21-18, 21-19 by Nova Widianto and
Lilyana Natsir, the second-seeded former world champions
from Indonesia, but were always in close contention, which
suggests the bizarre and highly controversial line decision near
the end of the first game was an important one.
Somehow the Indonesians were deemed to have reached 19-16 when
Widianto's shot had clearly landed out, and when the action
replay on the huge screen above the court showed the error for
everyone to see.
Robertson and Wallwork protested, and the crowd booed, but the
umpire took the view that the decision could only be made on
what the human eye had seen. The English won the next two points
to reach 18-19, which made the loss of a point even more
significant.
Afterwards Robertson did not make as much of it as he might,
perhaps more concerned to learn more positive things from the
match. "There were a couple of bad calls, but there was one
each," he said.
"Sometimes it's hard to see how they got them so wrong, but they
evened themselves out, as they usually do."
More important to him may be to build on the knowledge that they
are now a danger to anyone - dangerous in attack, and better in
movement, while Wallwork is improving in defence. This is giving
them a stronger belief in the partnership, which enables them to
fight better when they get behind.
They
erased a three-point deficit in the first game to get to 14-14
and were only just edged out of it at the end, and after losing
their three-point lead in the second game recovered to make
another spirited challenge, but again fell just short.
Although neither English mixed doubles pair got beyond the
quarter-finals, the ambitions of both were advanced further by
the quality of the performances which got them there and kept
them competitive with two of the top three pairs in the world.
Earlier Anthony Clark and Heather Olver allowed Lee
Yong Dae and Lee Hyo Jung, the Olympic champions from Korea,
to get away from them a little too much in each game of a 21-19,
21-17 defeat to have strong hopes of prevailing.
They were 16-20 down in the first game and saved three of the
four game points, and were 1-9 down in the second before
narrowing the deficit to three points. During these sequences it
became evident that their partnership too, though only three
months old, is beginning to weld itself into a better unit.
