XD:
Gao Ling looks set to dominate the XD world with a new partner, Zheng Bo, who proves more steady than the clowning Zhang Jun. Robertson managed to cut down on his errors and impose a commanding influence from the back, making it a good match. In the end, I feel the Chinese were simply that little bit better. Gao Ling was as usual smilingly happy with the win, and I think Zheng Bo is quietly happy to have been paired with Gao Ling and start winning some titles. I believe this pairing is smartly formulated for Beijing 2008.
MS:
Peter Gade mostly in control. Sharp as ever. No sign of headache. He was the second most ecstatic winner of the day, closely matching KKK/TBH. He even threw his racquet into the crowd. During the match, I think he got a slight majority of support from the crowd. (Of course, the Chinese usually have good support in Malaysia, although that has waned due considerably to Li Yongbo, I think.) I was emotionally supporting Peter as well because of his near-miraculous performance after hospitalisation, and also because I feel bad for Chen Hong (who I think would be a bigger foe for Peter to handle) for allegedly being sidelined for the sake of Chinese strategy once again.
WS:
Zhu Lin was simply very sharp. But in fact, she was the one who looked out of breath. A lot of early rallies were simply energy-sapping. It was obvious that she was taking a lot of time between rallies while WMC wanted to start the next rally as soon as possible. However, towards the end of the match, WMC failed on capitalise on her better fitness. Instead of extending the rallies, she chose to smash, which were mostly easily saved by ZL without much effort. Also, the numerous easy points rewarded by WMC must have a very positive psychological effect on ZL. ZL, with her height and solid strokes, reminds me a lot of Zhang Ning, even down to the fact that she can still play hell of a game when seemingly exhausted. As for WMC, my impression of her is that she can retrieve just about anything, similar to squash's Nicol David (also about same height and build), who was dubbed the Energizer bunny. But I feel WMC needs to develop weapons to go further.
WD:
Good fight by the Indonesians. I believe the Chinese will now have to take Greysia/Vita very seriously; they may even be a bigger threat than the Koreans Lee/Lee. The Indons repeatedly attacked the Chinese weak point, Huang Sui, and she was pressured to make a lot of mistakes. However, the quality of Gao/Huang is obvious and even though troubled, still romped home the title.
MD:
By far the best match of the day, as expected. The match was reminiscent of the SF between the Malaysians and Markis/Hendra. Even the scoreline was the same if I am not mistaken. I thought that Tony/Candra would try to slow down the game, but the match was mostly to see who was faster. And the Malaysians were faster more times than not. Both pairs played very well. The rallies were mostly very exciting and high-tempo. A lot of the game occured at the net. KKK as usual likes to rush things at the net, and TBH proved to be very good at the net also. Tony who is used to controlling the net, marginally lost the net battle. Candra proved to be the weakest among the four, making more unforced errors than usual. KKK made the customary amount of errors due to his habit of rushing the shots (a habit which also wins points). For me, TBH was the revelation. He controlled the game even better than master Tony. His strokes were cool and composed. He knew the best shot before he executed it well. My fellow traveller from Singapore, Nicky (ex-Vietnamese national player who accompanied Loh and me to KL) mentioned that if Tony were to partner TBH, the match would be over very quickly, and I agree. At the end of the second game, after KKK/TBH have opened up a big lead, Tony/Candra staged a comeback, probably due to desperation and also the Malaysians' nervousness. But in the point-a-rally system, once KKK/TBH got one or two more points, it was practically over.
BIG BIG CONGRATS TO THE MAS PAIR!!
:crying: This is my worst predictions ever!!
