World Champions Out! – Day 3: DANISA Denmark Open 2017

World Champions Out! – Day 3: DANISA Denmark Open 2017

The DANISA Denmark Open 2017 lost its two top Women’s Doubles seeds with Japan’s Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi and Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan biting the dust in the second round today.

The other notable defeat in the evening session was that of Men’s Singles No.7 seed Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia), to India’s HS Prannoy.

World champions Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan crashed to their second early defeat since winning the World title.

The second seeds totally lost the plot to Indonesia’s Della Destiara Haris/Rizki Amelia Pradipta in the final game after the first two were closely contested. The Indonesians stormed into the quarter-finals 21-23 21-18 21-10 and will next face Japan’s Shiho Tanaka/Koharu Yonemoto.

Matsutomo and Takahashi were also lacklustre as they went down to new Korean combination Chae Yoo Jung and Kim Hye Rin, 21-17 21-19.

Local hopefuls Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl narrowly avoided the fate that befell their fellow seeds, as they saved three match points against Bulgaria’s Stefani Stoeva/Gabriela Stoeva.

The Bulgarians had a two-point cushion at the death, but succumbed to the attacking firepower of the Danes: 21-18 14-21 23-21.

In Men’s Singles, former Denmark Open champion Lee Chong Wei crashed to his second straight defeat at the hands of India’s HS Prannoy, 21-17 11-21 21-19.

It was an uneven show from Lee in the homestretch that allowed Prannoy the wriggle room that he sought. Lee led 13-10 in the third before two sending two drives long, and that seemed to sap his will. He looked disinterested at a shuttle that landed in the backhand corner; Prannoy ran off with eight straight points, and although Lee pulled level, he once again misjudged the shuttle in the deep on match point.

“I’m happy that I came back from 10-13, a couple of good serves changed the course of the match,” said Prannoy.

“The basic plan was just to be ready for his speed and to be quick on my feet. He’s capable of playing fast at any time. I was sluggish at the net; he was getting a chance play the net and get the big hit. In the third I didn’t give him that chance and that was the one thing that changed the match.

“I have extremely high respect for him, at his age he’s able to play at a high pace. I think he’s slowed a bit since his best years; but he’s still got the touch; only he and Lin Dan can play so well under any conditions.”

Prannoy’s teammate Kidambi Srikanth prevailed in three games over Korea’s Jeon Hyeok Jin to set up a mouth-watering quarter-final against local hero Viktor Axelsen. The No.2 seed from Denmark flirted with disaster before overcoming Hong Kong’s Wei Nan 17-21 21-10 23-21.

In Men’s Doubles, Hong Kong’s Or Chin Chung and Tan Chun Man all but pulled the plug on local favourites Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen.

The left-handed duo were at their attacking best and edged ahead in the third, but as the Danes have demonstrated so often in the past, they were able to come up with the answers. Today it was Boe’s brilliant poaching at the front that wrecked the hopes of Or and Tang; time and again Boe was in the right place at the right time and picking off winners which helped them touch the tape ahead of the Hong Kong duo.

The top seeds meet compatriots Niclas Nohr/Kasper Antonsen, who had come through qualifying; Nohr/Antonsen stunned teammates Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding 21-19 21-13.

World champions Zhang Nan/Liu Cheng survived a stiff test against Indonesia-Malaysia duo Hendra Setiawan/Tan Boon Heong, 15-21 21-18 21-15 and will take on No.5 seeds Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda of Japan.

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