Yay for minions to go to the Final. Just watched the replay of the match. Minions didn't seem to be in the top form today, or at least Kevin wasn't. Too tired from the non stop smashing in the previous match? But luckily they won it, the Indians did pretty well and their attacks were powerful and steep. Facing Han/Zhou in slow condition would be a big hard work. Go minions!
Maybe the the next time is Srikanth Kidambi, who has the chance to play and analyse the game of Momota 6 times in the row and just need to play 10% better to knock out WR1
Take away from the HBJ-AK match is that over-the-net calls should be subject to review as well. Given the human limitation, this kind of call is often too arbitrary, even if not biased. And it may end up with major consequences to a player's career.
It was a close call since we got to see it in slomo but I think HBJ lost the match when she allowed Akane to comeback with the 9 point lead in game 2.
There are the talented ones who know exactly which gear they must switch to and there are the not so talented ones.
Maybe just one player that be blamed about has advantages of easier draw to win consecutive titles, your local hero without any WC medal-Srikanth, i dont think people say the same about Tai, LCW, Chen Long...
Sure it’s true KM was tired, it’s been a long year for him. But the way I see it, it’s more like it was C. Long’s win. I mean he is still holding the latest Olympic Gold medal and even though he has had a bad year so far he could still beat KM. At the end of the day, the winner is still the one who managed to put all the pieces of the puzzle together on a given day, including managing his/her fitness level along a career, a year, the months, one tournament or even during a set. As for HBJ, she needs to work on her fitness but is it really her only issue? Give her TTY fitness, would she surely win a lot more? I saw her mentally let go several time already during critical moments of a few games. I also see a lack of “craziness” in her style of play that Marin or TTY can show when needed. What about technique or experience? Did she even participate in more than one world championship? I think her problem is the one of many at the moment. Not just fitness. But it was a great match today against AY isn’t it?
I'm surprised that CL beat KM this time. CL took G2 convincingly. It has been a while since KM lost the game with one digit score. I think CL must be really eager to win this tournament. Let him win for once.
Country representative in Final 4 - CHN 2 - JPN 1 - INA, KOR, TPE, BUL MS - All CHN Final. I will root for CL this time. WS - Rematch of French Open Final last year. I don't think AY can beat TTY atm. MD - Revenge match for minions. Let's go, minions! WD - Whoever win this one will become new SS/WT500+ champion. I feel that JPN WD will prevail again. XD - First final for Koreans. Somehow, I have a weird ferling that Korean pairs will win. But, I still think Zheng/Huang will win in the end, given how they beat the opponents convincingly.
If your logic that CL wins when motivated, then did he win the AG or WC this year? If not, why? Because he has WC already? So why are you saying he s still young enough to win another WC? Lcw brings out the best in CL because CL rote trained for him. And LCW wasn't even aware he was CL s only syllabus. LCW thought he had to play his A game to beat CL. That is the worst because CL rote trained on LCW s A game. The only way CL could lose to LCW is when LCW varies his game to keep CL guessing. Now Momota is CL s new syllabus but it took CL quite a while to download into his system and rote trained for Momota, isn't it. Poor Momota. Gonna lose to CL most times onwards. Don't think CL rote trains for SYQ so SYQ should have a chance to win. In any case, what s the motivation for CL to win the French Open title? It s only a 500, isnt it?
Pressure is on HanZhou after crushing defeat to AstrupSen last month. Another loss means mentally they are not good enough. Could mean they are another ChaiHong/EndoH
Supposedly, Momota was nursing a back injury. This made it difficult for him to execute several shots like reverse slices or saving smashes at his backhand. The back injury also slowed him down quite a bit. You could tell Momota was not physically tired, but was grimacing in pain each time he had to twist his body. That being said, Chen Long did play very well; the placement of his shots are starting to look good again, and he has cut down on his errors. Chen Long vs Shi Yuqi will be an intriguing match. The latter plays an attacking style and seems to have improved on his speed in this tournament. Chen Long is very good in defence. We shall see who prevails later.
FINAL (01.00pm) => https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/matches.aspx?id=8FD27ADF-A823-42B0-817A-7AC3AAE1CFDD China has secured four representatives in ultimate stage, one title is already guaranteed through the most prestigious and competitive category, men's singles. Their arch-rival Japan has two slots followed by BUL, INA, KOR, TPE with one final berth each. XD, Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong (CHN) v Seo Seung Jae/Chae Yu Jung (KOR) H-2-H : 0-0 / WR : 1 v 32 The formidable Zheng/Huang is clear favourite to nail 6th title in BWF World Tour this season, all straight-sets games en route to the final indicate consistency and quality as world number one and world champion as well. Watanabe/Higashino were expected to trouble them yesterday but still the Chinese know very well to apply exact strategy and outmaneuvered the All England Champion with two quick games, 21-11 / 21-14. Their unheralded final hurdle, the darkhorses Seo SJ/Chae YJ trounced Thailand pair Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai, 21-14 / 21-9 and took revenge over their last week semifinal defeat. The Koreans may present surprising feat for the top-seed due to unfamiliarity style of play as Zheng/Huang experienced tough times to overcome Ellis/Smith in last eight. MD, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (INA) v Han Chengkai/Zhou Haodong (CHN) H-2-H : 1-1 / WR : 1 v 17 A tricky test for world number one to extend their winning streak here as they needed to dig deep in first encounters against world number 17 and lost to Chinese upcoming pair in China Open Super 1000 recently. Gideon/Sukamuljo were troubled by Indian promising duo Rankireddy/Shetty in second game last night, neck to neck until the end that produced the scoreline, 26-24 for the Indonesian favourites. Second final of top-tier tournament for Han/Zhou after their runner-up finish in Changzhou. The Chinese youngsters were so passive and error-proned at the beginning of semifinal tie versus defending champion Lee JH/Lee Y before found their rhythm in next two games, quite smooth passage to final stage, never faced seeding pair from first round. WD, Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara (JPN) v Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva (BUL) H-2-H : 2-0 / WR : 5 v 11 Contrasting fashion to describe two WD semifinals where Matsumoto/Nagahara demolished last year winner Polii/Rahayu easily, 21-10 / 21-8. The Indonesians really frustrated to find the answer how to face this Japanese pair, such a wide gap if we look the overall scoreline. Later on in second session, badminton fans witnessed dramatic ending for Stoeva sisters to through in first ever high status tournament in longest match in this tournament, 94 minutes. The reigning European Champion have better fitness level than Korean pair as Lee So Hee suffered cramp in deciding game and deny to retire until the match finished. Lee was awarded red card by English umpire due to delaying time and asked medical treatment twice. It's tall order however for the Bulgarian pair to create history in Paris and beat the reigning World Champion. WS, Tai Tzu Ying (TPE) v Akane Yamaguchi (JPN) H-2-H : 7-4 / WR : 1 v 3 An ideal final based on seeding position as top two seeds meet in last stage, repetition of last edition finale. Both players worked hard to overcome Chinese opponents in last four. Defending champion dropped opening game, 18-21 then back to her normal style with demonstration of many deceptive shots to trick her younger opponent. Chen Yufei basic gameplan couldn't maintain and balance the high calibre World number one, faltered in next two games, 12-21 / 14-21. Last match of semifinal day saw He Bingjiao once again swallowed disappointment, failed to topple her nemesis Akane Yamaguchi. After won psychological opening game 22-20, the left-hander blew away her hefty lead in second game, 14-5 then let Yamaguchi catched up, the case became difficult in decider as the momentum swung to second seed despite He fought hard to never give up, 21-19 for Yamaguchi to seal final ticket. MS, Chen Long (CHN) v Shi Yuqi (CHN) H-2-H : 4-2 / WR : 5 v 2 Third all Chinese finals in this category of BWF World Tour this year after All England Super 1000 and AUS Open Super 300. Two-time World Champion Chen Long defeated more favoured, reigning world champion Kento Momota convincingly, 21-18 / 21-8. The Olympic Champion was really ready for Momota tactic, patient style with long rallies and very tight netshot, former Chinese number one could anticipate well Momota shots this time and dictated the pace throughout the match. A possibly fatigue Momota couldn't match the in-form Chen Long as he lost meekly in second game. Earlier on TV Court, All England Champion Shi Yuqi eliminated Danish new hopeful, Rasmus Gemke, 21-11 / 21-16, thanks to his solid defense and excellent placement. Shi expressed sigh of relief to cruise into final after a strings of uninspiring results and low confidence post his silver medal in World Championships. Chen succumbed twice in their last two encounters, this time the Dragon should make amends to tame his younger teammate.
Analysing badminton matches is not exact science. Everyone can look at yesterdays match, compare it to their previous encounters this year and make their conclusions why the result was different this time.
