It was a pure physical grind battle to watch. Even though both of them have a pretty solid basic game, they both struggle to generate a sharp attack, struggle is slightly more for KV than LS. Moreover they they both hardly play anything at net, which is very much needed at this level to challenge the bests in the business. With such a solid base, I feel if they develop the X-factor in the games, they could become a player like KM or CL in the future Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The MD match is the first to be played, which is good. The match between the 2 young INA MD pairs: Pramudya Kusumawardhana/Yeremia Erich Yoche Rambitan and Leo Rolly Carnando/Daniel Marthin will be worth watching. Hoping for an All-INA MD Final tomorrow between one of these pairs (I have a feeling its Pram/Yere) and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo. There's also an outside chance of another All-INA Final in XD, but I personally don't think Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari can beat the top-seeded Thai pair. The inconsistent Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti has a chance of getting into another European Final. Meanwhile, Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti/Ribka Sugiarto have a great chance to reach the Final of a World Tour Super 500 level tourney. There will be two matches involving Singaporean players: Loh Kean Yew & Yeo Jia Min. Staying in Europe for the past month or so have indeed helped them to secure good results over the past 3 weeks. Jia Min reach the QF of the French Open and went one round better (at least) in the Hylo Open this week. She lost to the top 10 ranked players (An Se Young and He Bingjiao) in the past 3 weeks and will face Michelle Li today. Meanwhile, Kean Yew won the Dutch Open (IC-level), beating his opponent today (Lakshya Sen) and lost to him in the French Open R16 last week. He also lost to the Olympic champions Viktor Axelsen and beat Lee Zii Jia in the past 2 weeks. If he beat Lakshya today, he will reach his first Final of World-Tour Super 500 tourney.
Does anybody remembers when NG Ka Long had lost an Indian player last? As far as i recall, he had very good record against all Indian MS players. Somehow they couldn't crack him in the past. Good to see KS being able to overcome him.
Intriguing two MS semifinal matches, first ever meeting between former world number one against All England champion, Srikanth is trying to regain confidence back into right direction to revive his career, he almost lost winning plot when Ng KL catching up slowly, came back from behind, 8-15 / 10-16 before gone narrowly, 19-21. Loh-Sen, an important breakthrough for whoever through into final of S500, the Singaporean survived of Danish test Rasmus Gemke that ended 22-20 in deciding game whilst 2018 YOG silver medalist overcame Thai prodigy Vitidsarn in tough battle too, these two blossoming talents will fill MS next generation star. Will the rookies upset the established player? Both Yeo and Chaiwan are potential young talents, showing upward trend of their development recently and should maximize chance in this quite abnormal circumstances here as many top-10 players miss this event where usually providing high competitive tournament. Pram/Yere also Leo/Daniel stun their higher-ranked opponents which is good for regeneration process, the Minions winning mission is still intact in Saarbrucken, tackle Danish young combinations Lundgaard/Thyrri comfortably and should be extra alert to Jomkoh/Kedren who forced them working extra hard in Thomas Cup group-stage match last month. Japan B team members doing well in WD discipline as all their representatives of other categories have been crashed out in early rounds. Growing postive sign for INA youngsters Fadia/Ribka to accelerate their progress in effort to replace Polii/Rahayu position soon. Another three games completion for Jordan/Oktavianti, they're definitely not in good shape, just one more match to secure final spot and challenge likely top-seed Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai.
Awesome fighting spirit. Nail biting for lky. Hope the intensity can last. Gemke will kick himself for the match point he messed up. Bit of luck coz gemke got match point but he tapped outside on deuce. Then lky sealed it. 50 50. Another exciting game coz Sen also won in 3 games. Lky will try revenge on french open lost. Yeo will play old Michelle. Lzj vs tambi.. Upcoming Thai girl. Old michelle vs young sg yeo. Pure mental power now. Bodies all aching. See who can last longer. Lol
Srikanth , after this win, he has 3-3 h2h against him. When Ng Ka Long emerged into the badminton world of top players, I thought of him as a defensive wall. His defense is immaculate. Indian players used to lose patience after their attack keep coming back from a wall. That's why , not many Indian players have good record against him.
Srikanth showed some glimpses of his old form yesterday. We have to see today whether it is just for that match or really his form is coming back. .
It's an ALL-INA MD Final tomorrow as Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo beat the Thair pair comfortably in 2-sets 21-17, 21-16. Will they win their first title in almost 2 years against their young counterparts?
