Some mouth-watering dishes on the menu today ~Kidambi Srikanth vs Chen Long ~Lin Dan vs Emil Holst ~Chou Tien Chen vs Anders Antonsen ~Tzu Wei Wang vs Kanta Tsuneyama Interesting affair in the upper half of the draw Rajiv Ouseph gave a walkover to Raul Must who in turn gave a walkover to Ng Ka Long Angus.
For the MS, having to play six consecutive rounds to win the GPG title and just days before the more important and prestigious All England where most of them are participating, is not exactly an attractive proposition, esp when you are met with stiff opposition along the way. Nevertheless, good for those not going to the AE and for those who think they stand little chance at the AE, as they can go all out to win this tournament and will push the top seeds real hard with nothing to hold them back unlike the AE participants who have to pace themselves well for two back-to-back events while giving more weight to the AE.
Emil Holst is an up-and-comer, no player, even Lin Dan included, would dare underestimate him, do so at your own peril.
Emil Holst is an up-and-comer, no player, even Lin Dan included, would dare underestimate him, do so at your own peril.
I was there yesterday. Nice to have seen Lin Dan playing, must have been some 16 years since last time. And yep, it sure was gallery play; you could see he had some fun. Even had a laugh after a rally with one of the kids that accompanied him on court. The audience loved it! Also, Mateusz played well, he made the match worth watching, props to him as well.
Right, Dubowski gave his all, didn't play badly at all, certainly no shabby player; quite an entertainment, the match.
I guess I won't be able to stay awake for CL vs KS... Alas, should be a great match, n I am perfectly fine with any of em winning, which makes it even more fun.
Seems pretty close match between KS and CL, I wish KS could've capitalized during the climax, but its good to see he almost matching CL coming from an injury and a rough patch. MS will be more interesting in AE then I thought. What did just happened LD had no interest? AE tactics? I know Emil Holst is quick n all but look at the scoreline, blimey there's no way its true.
Starting at 8:20 PM MS Emil HOLST [DEN] Beat [CHN] LIN Dan [3] 21-10 21-16 0:46 Very surprised to see this result. Maybe this is LD's strategy to fool others just before the AE.
Surprised...because LD didn't go all-out to beat the WR#40 in hopes of capturing a grand-prix gold title...four days ahead of the AE? At 33, the body doesn't recover nearly as fast. Look what happened to both LD and LCW after MS SF in Rio. It's a simple cost benefit analysis.
One thing to be said is that: "You don't enter tournaments to lose but to win every match as quickly as possible." Your reputation, ranking and prize money are at stake.
Wang Tzu Wei is real good, beating Kanta Tsuneyama who's fast and furious in two straight sets by a clear margin is no mean feat. Both are players to watch.
To be honest, I more or less sensed, esp after watching how he played to the gallery against Dubowski the previous day, that he's not going to win this 6-round GPG and start the next week's AE slightly stretched as the defending champion. Just not sure when he will crash out. Looking at the following remaining draws, I doubt he relishes losing to Chou TC or Ng K L, both of whom have beaten him before, and certainly not to Chen Long whom he defeated in their last encounter in the CBSL domestic league, thus he'd want to maintain his psychological edge going to the AE, what with the fresh LCW also in the mix. Bear in mind, Lin Dan is also registered for the Swiss Open, that makes three back-to-back tourneys for the 34-year-old when neither Chen Long nor LCW are doing so. It's clear Lin Dan is playing the long game with AE his real target, the other two minor tournaments are part of his strategy. For sure he'd lose ranking points exiting the German Open so early as he was last year's winner as well but I think he'll make up for it with the Swiss Open subsequently.
There's no way he's gonna attend Swiss Open. Plus I really don't get it why to register for tourneys that aren't that prestigious n comes in way of the bigger ones
There's no way he's gonna attend Swiss Open. Plus I really don't get it why to register for tourneys that aren't that prestigious n comes in way of the bigger ones
