It is understandable that Li Xuerui may be relaxing for a few months or so. She has, after all, achieved what others can only dream of. An Olympic gold medal for WS. Only a handful can boast of having such an accolade: Susi Susanti in 1992 Bang Soo-hyun, 1996 Gong Zhicao, 2000 and Zhang Ning, 2004 and 2008.
In the meanwhile on Court 3, another INA meltdown by giving up 5 straight points to lose the first set. This time Anneke/Nitya ... Now up 4-1 in the second but they were up 11-5 in the first as well.
I'm guessing that the Japanese pair should come out slightly on top, eventually. JMO. Don't forget Christinna Pedersen had undergone a stomach operation not too long ago. Didn't see anyone mentioning about this in BC, strangely.
Lin Dan has suffered a dolorous blow in Athens, Wang Yihan hers in Uber Cup 2010, what has LXR been dealt with? Only three mild shocks from Lu Lan, Sindhu and now J Schenk. LXR is not Lin Dan;she has too few major titles to her name;she has no right to rest on her laurels. Even CBA didn't accord her special status and privilege when she was required to play in CHN Masters while all the other gold medallists rested. I won't be surprised the Chinese media starts to criticize her now. For most people, winning Olympic gold is enough but CHN expects more from their top players and there are many other newcomers,youngsters and upstarts who are ever hungry to taste what their famous sisters and brothers have achieved on the world stage. As a CHN player, LXR simply cannot afford to perform below expectation for a bit too long by China's standard.
Saina is looking sharp, her drop shots are pretty good, her speed and court movement too. Tine can do better than what she's doing now - where's her thundering smashes?
An emphatic win by Saina. Tomorrow's SF with WYH should be a better fight than their Olympic encounter, I think.
Does lipo count as an operation? My PAW research favours the INA pair against these types of opponents but here they give up 4 straight points again ... PAW lives depend on it fcol!
