Denmark’s Line Christophersen survived three match points against Sweden’s Ashwathi Pillai to enter the Women’s Singles fourth round at the LI-NING BWF World Junior Championships 2018 today.
Christophersen (featured image), the 13th seed, looked down and out with Pillai serving at 20-17, but the Swede made a couple of misjudgements at the baseline and then hit a wild forehand. The Dane, sensing her opportunity, kept the rallies going until her opponent faltered on the final shot, giving Christophersen a 21-13 19-21 22-20 victory.
“I was a bit stressed in the third game. I was leading 15-11 and then I got nervous, I started thinking too much,” Christophersen said. “When I was match point down I told myself to just keep the shuttle in play, and not to risk playing an attacking shot.”
The Dane faces No.2 seed Phittayaporn Chaiwan (Thailand), who fought past China’s Han Qianxi 20-22 21-18 21-14.
Top seed Wang Zhiyi (China) eased into the fourth round beating Canada’s Katie Ho-Shue 21-13 21-18; her next opponent will be Japan’s Riko Gunji. Her compatriot Zhou Meng, the fifth seed, also entered the fourth round, where she will meet Indonesia’s Yasnita Enggira Setiawan.
Other fourth-round matchups include Goh Jin Wei (Malaysia) against Wendy Zhang (Canada); Hirari Mizui (Japan) against Lee So Yul (Korea); Chung Da Jeong (Korea) against compatriot Park Ga Eun; Hong Kong’s Leung Yuet Yee versus China’s Wei Yaxin, and Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani versus Malaysia’s Eoon Qi Xuan.
Men’s Singles saw the exit of a few seeds. Fifth seed Arnaud Merkle (France) was beaten 21-19 21-12 by Indonesia’s Christian Adinata, while eighth seed Jason Teh (Singapore) crashed out to Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, 21-10 18-21 21-16, suffering the same fate as Germany’s 13th seed Lukas Resch, who was beaten 21-17 16-21 21-13 by Malaysia’s Ng Tze Yong. Another seed to bite the dust was Ukraine’s 16th seed Danylo Bosniuk, who came up short against Korea’s Choi Ji Hoon, 21-19 21-19.
Top seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Thailand) progressed to a fourth round clash with England’s Harry Huang after beating China’s Liu Liang 21-17 21-16. Fourth seed Lakshya Sen (India) booked a spot against Chinese Taipei’s Chen Shaiu Cheng, while sixth seed Nhat Nguyen (Ireland) will take on Setthanan Piyawatcharavijit (Thailand).
In Men’s Doubles, Scotland siblings Christopher and Matthew Grimley earned a hard-fought win over Japan’s Hiroki Midorikawa/Hiroki Nakayama 19-21 21-12 21-19. It was close all the way in the third, with the Scots edging ahead of the Japanese at the very end.
“We managed to hold our nerve. It was a physical match, the rallies were really long and the shuttles were slow, so we didn’t really smash,” said Christopher Grimley. “We had to set up from the mid court and keep pressing from there. Their defence was really solid, so we were mainly going for the angles but we’re happy we managed to get through.
His brother added: “You’ve got to take your time, instead of rushing everything. You’ve got to think about what you’re doing in the rallies, think about your tactics, just stay focussed.
“We’re really happy, we knew it would be one of our toughest games because the Japanese have been doing really well. We’re happy we’re past that.”
Their reward is a fourth round clash with 11th seeds Thanawin Madee/Wachirawit Sothon (Thailand), who overcame Gijs Duijs/Brian Wassink of Netherlands.
Among the casualties on the day were sixth seeds Fabien Delrue/William Villeger (France), who crashed out to Japan’s Taiki Kato/Yuta Takei; eighth seeds Ratchapol Makkasasithorn/Weeraphat Phakjarung (Thailand), and 14th seeds Rory Easton/Zach Russ (England).
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