It is amazing that despite being only a mid-ranked tournament, the German Open is usually well-participated. Look at the just-concluded Korean Open and compare the lineup. MS Lin D v Xia XZ Bao CL v Wong CH (match of the day) Palyama D v Lee CW Chen Yu v Hafiz Intriguing battles of current v has-beens in the top half. I won't be surprised to see an all-Malaysian semifinal in the bottom. WS Zhang N v Yao J Zhou M v Hirose E Jun JY v Xie XF (match of the day) Xu HW v Pi HY Predicting the Chinese and Pi to advance. MD Eriksen/Lungaard v Ha TK/Yim BE Hwang JM/Lee YD v Kidho/Setiawan Jung JS/Lee JJ v Chan CM/Koo KK (match of the day) Gunawan/Bach v Fu HF/Cai Y Except for the bottom tie which may go easily to Fu/Cai, all the matches are mouth-watering. World No 1 v scratch Korean veterans (and Korean veterans are always frightening). Young promising Koreans v unproven Indons. Korean new hope v Malaysian new hope. WD Yang W/Zhang JW v Lee KW/Lee HJ (match of the day) Gao L/ Huang S v Chien YC/Cheng WH Wong PT/Chin EH v Du J/Yu Y Augustyn K/Kostiuczyk N v Wei YL/Zhao TT When they met in Singapore, Lee/Lee was on the brink of victory before they broke down and let Yang/Zhang come back amazingly. Can Wong/Chin stop a Chinese sweep? Unlikely. After Du/Yu defeated Saralee/Sathinee, it looks like even the 4th Chinese pair can defeat the rest of the world. Will the future Chinese sweep start in the semifinal? XD Robertson N/Emms G v Saputra/Li YJ Zhang J/Gao L v Xie ZB/Yu Y (match of the day) Lee JJ/Lee HJ v Sudket/Saralee Tsai CH/Cheng WH v Chen QQ/Zhao TT Robertson/Emms don't seem as motivated anymore and the Singaporeans could stage an upset. Another intriguing battle between China's senior and junior. Lee/Lee should take the mantle from Kim/Ra but let's see how they do against better opponents. An all-Chinese final is not unlikely.
Oh, I forgot about them. In terms of rankings Du/Yu is not there yet. But in strength, they may have equalled Zhang/Zhang. Just look at their recent head-to-head.
Like "ironchef" mentioned, I also wouldn't underestimate Tony G. and Howard B. in the bottom match. True Fu/Cai "might" have more combined-experience playing "internationally" in comparison to Tony&Howard, but they're going up against arguably "the most feared Men's Doubles player still active" in Tony G. It should be one interesting match though, could go rubber set, and if it does, it *could* take a bit of toll on Tony as he's much older than Howard..
I saw them playing in the first round. Wow, Bach moves really quickly at the net, although he looks so big. But it seemed as if his shots weren`t as precise as the shots of Tony G.. Often Bach smashed 3 times and the shuttle came back and then suddenly Tony smashed and got the point. It seemed as if his strokes were "faster".
Very funny Very funny the mention of Offenbach. Maybe you ment that Tony playing double is a kind of symphony.... What a culture !!
I feel totally fine under estimating the americans in that match. But i guess like ironchef said, we'll see.
China vs Malaysia Quite certain the MSF will be between China vs Malaysia. So far the results are out on the lower half where Lee Chong Wei vs Hafiz Hashim while the upper half will be Lin Dan vs Boa Chunlai/Wong Choon Hann. Either way, I think Lin Dan will be in the final as I don't think any player in the world can beat 2 top notch Chinese players(Boa then Lin Dan) in a row. Will be an exciting German open Final
Bao did win against Wong so the men's singles final will be China against Malaysia. Most likely, it is Lin against Lee. Lee seems to be able to beat all Malaysians and Lin beats all Chinese. In women's doubles, Wong and Chin pulled off a small upset winning 17-16, 17-16 in the second and third set. Talk about a real squeeker. Ron
no one reported that Lee HyoJung/Lee Kyung Won beat the Olympics gold medalist Zhang Jiewen/Yang Wei in 3 sets! also, Ha / Yim lost to Jens/Martin in two sets. Xie scrapes pass Jun Jae Youn in two sets. we will see a repeat of the Olympics final between Zhang/Gao and Robertson/Emms as well. quite an eventful tournament so far.
going back decades, the Japanese ladies were a big force in badminton. hopefully we will see a revival of better Japanese players. give the Chinese a run for their money.
Oh well, Tony G. and Howard didn't make it past the QF. Lost in 3 sets. I was just surprise to see the 1st set score = 15-0!!! Second set Tony/Howard took it 15-13 but couldn't survive the final set 15-11..... I guess the Chinese figured out who to direct the attack to between Tony & Howard..
I think it's an advantage to the Cai/Fu that they have world class coaches watching the games and finding the weakness of Tony/Bach and give the players advices. Unless Cai/Fu, Tony is the best coach and the best player, I doubt if he can study his opponents as well as the Chinese coaches while playing in a fast pace game at the same time.
