It wasn't close. He was leading all the way and probably toying. See here : https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/match.aspx?id=CC80B9BD-6286-44AA-A4C1-4DD08895509F&match=7
2:40 PM MS - Qualification - Dan Lin vs Daren Liew Main Location - 1 Who will take the early flight home or visit Tokyo Disneyland? My head say the latter but my heart wish for the former.
if the former play like Thomas Cup, he should be visiting the Mickey Mouseland tomorrow... or doing drift in Tokyo like the movie Tokyo Drift....
Lin Dan got to be careful, just playing enough to win for whatever reasons in the early rounds, conserving energy being one of them, may, if not handled properly due to changing playing conditions or opponents playing above themselves without any burden,unexpectedly backfire. IMHO, it's better to try and take G1 first before slowing down to the opponent's pace. Losing the 1st set would give the opponent a boost in confidence and momentum which means Lin Dan must work harder, make fewer mistakes and not be unlucky, such as the opponent's once too often luck of the net cord and favourable linecalls, to win the next two sets decisively. So far, in each of his previous tournaments,from the CHN Masters to the BAC and the Thomas Cup, he had faced opponents who stretched him quite a bit. Don't forget, most of his opponents have nothing to lose but everything to gain.
Unlucky for Xue Song whose promotion to the main draw pits him against none other than Lin Dan. It'd be better for XS to play the qualies and go on to face P Kashyap in R1 then followed by K Momota or JOJ, should he survive, before meeting his illustrious senior in the QF.
This is going to be interesting. Akane Yamaguchi is up against first seed Xuerui Li in the first round of the main draw.
LXR had better warm up fast as AY ,having played two matches in the qualies, would have settled in by then. LXR definitely cannot afford to play an error-filled game, her glaring weakness, in my humble opinion, is still basically hitting too many sliced dropshots into the net. AY with her excellent court coverage and good stamina,as well as exhibiting cool and calm demeanour, can frustrate many attacking players who aren't on top of their game. The other match I'm looking forward to, apart from the YX-PVS one which is gone, is the Liu Xin vs Intanon face-off tomorrow - if only there's livestream available.
BAM probably bought some early bird tickets to Disneyland as it will be a long queue if you were to buy the tickets on the same day itself. The players must be happy but if for some unfortunate hiccups like opponents withdraw and they progress further, please pass the tickets around. Whose next? Chong Wei Feng or the WD cuties?
Yeah...whole MAL team (except LCW) and I guess if Liu Xin does it against RI Thai team and Even the IND team (in absence of SN n PV)can go ttogether to Disneyland...
Thanks for posting this Mr. Epic. Also, I don't know who recorded this match, but thanks to the person that recorded this match and uploaded it to Youtube. Lin Dan wasn't trying his hardest in the first 11 points of each set. He upped the pace a little in the 2nd half of the set but it's obvious Lin Dan was conserving energy. I wonder why Daren Liew has hit a road block in his improvement. He gets to train and play with LCW everyday. Even the other Chinese players get better when they have the chance to train and play with Lin Dan. Other than LCW, Malaysia's single's program is a disappointment.
Lin Dan's got much slower than before, and his lunges to the net look slightly laboured. But his improved skills've made up for the physical decline.
