CR Land BWF World Superseries Finals – Day 1 – night: Danes Stun Olympic Champions

CR Land BWF World Superseries Finals – Day 1 – night: Danes Stun Olympic Champions

Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen avenged their Olympic semi-final loss, conquering Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei at the CR Land BWF World Superseries Finals tonight.

The Group B Mixed Doubles match, which saw the No. 6 Danes upset the Olympic gold medallists from China 21-12 23-21 (featured image), was one of two great results for Europe on the first day of the tournament, being played at Shenzhen Bay Sports Center, China.

The other was veteran Tine Baun’s surprise victory over world No. 3 Saina Nehwal (India) in a Women’s Singles, Group B clash. Denmark’s Baun (left), who has lost to Nehwal in their last four matches, reversed the trend with a gutsy 21-14 11-21 21-19 success. In the third game, the Indian rallied from 8-14 to come within a point at 13-14, but a determined Baun shot ahead again and closed the door firmly.

Also in that group, world No. 4 Juliane Schenk (Germany) continued to struggle against Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon (right). She suffered her third straight loss to the world No. 9, 21-17 22-20.

Hans-Kristian Vittinghus raised hopes of a Danish hat-trick in the night session – and indeed of an upset against Chen Long (China) – snatching the first game 22-20. However, the second seed rebounded to claim the remaining games at 15 and 11 in their Men’s Singles fixture.

NIGHT HIGHLIGHTS

• The shortest match today was the Group B Men’s Doubles tie between Hong Wei/Shen Ye (China) and Maneepong Jongjit/Bodin Issara (Thailand). The Thais were dismissed 21-9 21-9 in just 21 minutes!

• Japan’s Kenichi Tago’s recent good form continued as he overcame upcoming Malaysian Daren Liew 21-15 21-18 in Men’s Singles action. Next up is Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Vittinghus.

• Muhammad Rijal/Debby Susanto (Indonesia) beat Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying (Malaysia) 21-18 21-19 in Mixed Doubles to go 3-2 up in their head-to-head count.

See day’s full results here.

 

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