We agree, Justin. I'm not talking about a retrospective nemesis. I'm talking about a nemesis going forward. THW looked super confident and I'm so glad to see that. Getting to the final is as possible as it ever will be for him. Boonsak Ponsana next, then either Momota or Son Wan Ho. It's not easy, but compared to the bottom half of the table his run is probably a lot smoother.
Tian HW showed glimpses of the young Lin Dan yesterday and today,... erm, better not get carried away, it's only R2.
Yeah, the luck of the draw and LCW's last-minute withdrawal has thrown the field wide open for those in the upper half for a relatively easier route to the final, and they know it.
Sung JH has just put the young upstart Akane in her place but I believe the talented 17-yr-old will be back sooner than we expected.
Did anyone just see what Xu Chen did? His string broke and he grabbed not his racket but one from the adjoining court.
Xu Chen broke the strings of his racket in the middle of the rally and ran to the next court and grabbed Fernaldi's racket First time I saw somebody did that. Too busy to run that far
Has LCW ever achieved 2 straight wins against LD, post 2004 Olympics? I think LD will win tonight. LD is probably annoyed by 2 straight losses to JoJ so LD will probably come to play against JoJ. Having said that, if it goes to 3 sets and the rallies are long, LD better watch out. IMO, JoJ is fitter than LD - he had LD tired by the 3rd set in the last match that JoJ won.
Right, the great majority of players can only hope to beat Lin Dan in the waning years of his career. Nonetheless I seriously doubt anyone can become LD's nemesis hereupon for despite his off-peak and age concerns, he, more than anyone I can think of, still has it in him to make sure it doesn't happen, at least until after Rio'16. Anyway, opinion is not fact, let the future tell.
Imho, I make a clear distinction between beating Lin Dan pre-LOG and post-WC'13, the more so when the win is achieved during the first three months of his latest comeback when he was undeniably rusty and not quite match-fit. I think it also boils down to Lin Dan's motivation and he has to take into consideration today is only round 2 of the tournament and there is another week of competition following, so he may be reluctant to go all out at this stage. Doubtless, he'll want to avenge his previous defeat to JOJ but he also has to look at the whole picture from a strategic point of view, a bit of a dilemma for him I think. Needless to say, a younger and fitter Lin Dan will simply go and finish off JOJ good and proper.
Impressive result so far by former WJC. Tomorrow he will challenge another veteran player, Boonsak Ponsana who disposed stubborn Lee Dong Keun in straight games.
I see Cai Yun is back to his mentoring role again, partnering Lu Kai. Fu Haifeng pairing up with Zhang Nan should be for real.
Nope. And just like Justin has said, LD is a lot closer to the end of his career than the start of it. Having someone beating you three times in a row when no one else can does mean something in sports. Like I said, it's very unlikely, but JOJ is one of about two people whom I think have a legitimate chance of being an arch rival to LD going forward; the other of course is Chen Long.