Both Zheng Siwei and Chen Qingchen are 19 years old, just like He Bingjiao, all of them in the first year of transitioning to the senior circuit.
When even Chen Qingchen can smash effectively from the back whilst she is excellent at the front there's little weakness for the opponents to exploit. Zheng Siwei is not big and tall but he's swift and strong.
Both Zheng Siwei/Chen Qingchen have finally arrived, ready to take on the very best in the world to scale the summit.
Though champion He Bingjiao and runner-up Sun Yu are outstanding here, I don't think they are able to handle back-to-back SS tourneys yet, esp HBJ whose fitness/stamina is still somewhat suspect.
LJH/LYC is like millenias ahead of all other chinese md pairs... Other pairs are just fillers who wont win anything. This pair is the real deal and are the present and future. Both are better than Zhang Nan easily too. ZSW should just stick to XD and not get burnt out playing MD where he is average.
On hindsight LYB should have let ZSW/CQ played in the senior circuit from Jan 2015. They would have qualified for the Olympics and , agreeing totally with you, would have done much better than then the estranged pair and XC/MJ. Just don't understand the rationale of LYB. HBJ played very tight net shots as usual today. Most of the shots worked well for her. Sun Yu's net play is also very good today. Agree with Justin that HBJ is more skillful.
Well, China comes back to business and introduces their next generation as future leading players to replace the seniors, grabbed three titles after looked struggling at first half of Superseries tour, All England (1 title), IND Open (1), MAS (1), SIN (1), INA (1) and AUS (2). Jan O Jorgensen once again forced Lee Chong Wei to work harder but unfortunately it wasn't enough to stop the world number one, the emotional Dane produced uncharacteristic errors at critical moment, end of third game, same story with INA Premier ending. Pedersen/Juhl took revenge over Rio Olympic Final defeat and disappointed home fans to outmaneuver local favourite Matsutomo/Takahashi, the Japanese combo practically had no answer to counter attack Danish veteran at deciding game.
Quite true, Team CHN screwed up at Rio'16 in XD and WD, what with ZYL/TQ/ZN triangular relationship problems, WD constant reshuffling and Yu Yang's underperformance. I'd very much like to see He Bingjiao tighten her game, cut down on her rate of errors, but like you said, she's inclined to playing with tight margins and going for the lines , hence more prone to errors. Still, I hope she develops greater consistency at a high level of quality, and at pain of repeating myself, work on her fitness and stamina as well - then she'll be the one to rule the courts in WS. Also very glad to see Sun Yu continuing to improve in both offense and defense, I think she hasn't peak yet. Great for CHN that Sun Yu and He Bingjiao are beginning to rise at the same time just when their Three Flowers, namely LXR, WSX, and WYH, are out of action, the last two of them permanently.
Congratulation to HBJ on her maiden SS title but she has still lot to prove against top level opponents. I'm curious how will she handle Denmark SSP when everybody will be competing because I think we can all agree that level of competition was very low in this tournament. Especially in WS with lot of retirements, injuries and withdraws after Rio. Can anybody remember SS with just 3 players from Top 10? It is more like GPG level tournament. Anyway good for her that she seized the opportunity unlike Sun Yu who is showing that her mental prowess when it comes to big occasions is not up to par - only 3 out of 11 titiles from GPG and SS finals (1 from 4 SS finals). She has plenty of learning ahead in her path.
Is it true that Yourgensen is 0 - 50000 against Lee Chong Wei ? BC Experts @Justin L @Rob3rt @visor @j4ckie
In my opinion, as far as WS is concerned, the field is quite open, there isn't anyone particularly strong among the top 10 as anybody can beat anybody else on a good day. Besides, the top 10 aren't necessarily clearly stronger than the next 10 ranked from 11 to about 20 or so. Not only that, both He Bingjiao and Sun Yu have proven before their abilities to defeat more than a few of the top 10 players. For example, HBJ has recently beaten the likes of P V Sindhu ( 3 out of 4 encounters, the last time HBJ beat her was at the OUE SIN Open'16 in April, the first time in Dec'15, the second time in Mar'16; however, the 3rd occasion was won by Sindhu in Apr at the MAS Open), Wang Yihan (in Swiss Open GPG'16 and in Chinese domestic tournaments as well), and Intanon Ratchanok (2x including this time) - certainly no mean feat despite the fact that her transition to the senior international circuit is barely one year as previously during her junior days she could only play a handful of senior tournaments at GPG/GP level (i,e, tier 3 BWF level) due to CBA constraints (and policies). Furthermore, in terms of ranking as of to date, Sun Yu is ranked 11, Akane Yamaguchi, 12 , whilst HBJ herself is at 15, all of them not far below top 10, not to mention world ranking serves more as a guide than an accurate assessment of their relative strengths. Sayaka Sato at 13, Porntip at 14, Kirsty Gilmour at 16, Bae Yeon Ju at 17, Busanan Ongbumrungpan at 18, Nichaon Jindapol at 19, and Yui Hashimoto at 20, etc - we all know what they are capable of. As we know, more often than not, the ranking of players doesn't really reflect their true strengths. What's more, the whole Japanese contingent on duty here, apart from Nozomi Okuhara ranked 5 and Akane Y ranked 12, the rest aren't mediocre at all if you've watched their games or have been following their progress, such as Aya Ohori, Ayume Mine, Sayaka Takashashi, Mitani Minatsu, Kaori Imabeppu, Yui Hashimoto. No doubt the tournament lineup here is not the strongest for a Superseries but it's evidently not that easy for anyone to win it either in view of the available opposition. Anyway, of the top 10, there are at least four who won't be around for quite some time as two are injured, namely LXR and SN, and the other two are retired for good. Their absence will affect a number of the SS/PSS tourneys going forward, not just this Japan Open SS. Notably, all in all, both the 4th ranked Intanon Ratchanok and the 5th ranked Nozomi Okuhara were stopped by the 15th ranked He Bingjiao and the 12th ranked Akane Yamaguchi respectively, that's telling isn't it ? So, in conclusion, I won't under-rate this Yonex Japan Open SS, even for Women's Singles category.
A check with BWF H2H reveals a one-sided record of 16 - 1 in LCW's favour, of course, with Jan O Jorgensen's one and only win as far back as in the 2009 China Open SS. No consolation at all, not even cold comfort.
