Interesting observation - all the winners so far are either from CHN, KOR or JPN And more to come too
This is the only match that could spoil the flag parade of CHN/JPN/KOR (provided the remaining Koreans win their matches)
Chien and Cheng ensure the Taiwanese flag joins the SF party with a straight games win 21-17, 21-15. Juliane trying to keep the German flag flying too. Way ahead of (a tiring?) Xing 11-4 in the rubber
In XD, the Russians are also trying to crash the party, took the 2nd game 21-16 against the 3rd seeded Koreans Xing is a spent force. Juliane cruising to the SF, ahead 15-5 in the rubber
Juliane outs Xing out of her misery with a comprehensive 3rd game victory 21-8. She now play... wait for it... my girl Jun. See ya Juliane
QF summary by country: CHN - 7 wins from 7 matches (pretty much expected) KOR - 9 wins from 11 matches (could have been 10 wins if PSH did not get shocked) JPN - 2 wins from 5 matches (not bad) TPE - 1 win from 3 matches (as expected) GER - 1 win from 1 match (thanks to Juliane Schenk) Biggest disappointment was INA - 0 win from 5 matches! Granted, they did not send their strongest team.
What a tiring day yesterday, didn't even have time to follow the proceedings of the QF as I arrived home "this morning" at 3:30am As expected the INA players crashed out in QF. I had stated that NONE will breach the Semi-Finals and indeed. First up, the Djarum pair Rian Sukmawan/Yonathan Suryatama Dasuki lost to Han Sang Hoon/Cho Gun Woo 20-22, 11-21. Nevertheless, a good performance in reaching the QF, after that victory over the Japanese pair Tadashi Ohsuka/Keita Masuda in R32. Up next will be Fu Haifeng/Cai Yun in the All-England. The best performer was Mohd Rijal/Greysia Polii as they were locked in an intense battle with He Hanbin/Yu Yang and nearly won the match with 2 match pts in hand and a huge lead at the closing stages of the rubber-set. However, the Chinese pair was more experienced and they snatched a 21-19, 21-23, 23-21 win. Expect more close encounters between these 2 pairs later in the year, esp after the Olympics as Rijal/Grace will step up to be INA's no 2 pair (or even no 1 pair if Nova Widianto does retire after the Olympics). Maria Kristin Yulianti also fell to the Chinese player who specializes in winning European tourneys, Li Wenyan in rubber-sets 21-18, 16-21, 12-21. The Women's Doubles pairs also lost as expected. Rani Mundiasti/Endang Nursugianti still can not get past any Japanese pair as they lost to Satoko Suetsuna/Miyuki Maeda 21-17, 16-21, 9-21. Jo Novita/Greysia Polii also lost easily in straight sets to the top-seed Li Kyung Won/Lee Hyo Jung 7-21, 18-21
