Badminton Life

Zwiebler Leads Germany to Semi-Finals

Men’s Event

With Denmark and Poland enjoying byes to the semi-finals, Germany, Russia, Ukraine and the Netherlands fought to become their opponents.

In the team tie between Germany and Russia the Germans drew first blood, and appeared to be positioned to run away with the tie, but things would not be that easy.  Denmark Super Series finalist Marc Zwiebler quickly disposed of his opponent Vladimir Malkov 21-9, 21-9, which was then followed by Marcel Reuter winning a squeaker over Vladimir Ivanov 22-20, 25-23.  Fabian Hammes was however unable to close out the tie losing badly to Stanislav Pukhov 21-14, 21-7.  The Russian’s first men’s doubles Durkin and Nikolaenko also did their jobs defeating Fuchs and Kindervarter 21-17, 21-15 to set up a fifth and final match.  Unfortunately for the Russians their comeback was for nothing as the German pair of Hopp and Schoettler pulled off the win over Dremin and Pukhov in three close games 16-21, 21-19, 21-15.  Germany will now face Denmark in the semi-finals.

The other quarter-final tie was not nearly as close however, with Ukraine defeating their Dutch opponents with relative comfort.  Dmytro Zavadsky defeated Rune Massing 21-12, 21-13, Valeriy Atrashchenkov defeated Lester Oey 21-12, 21-12, and the only close match was between Vladislav Druzchenko and Saber Afif with Druzchenko winning in three games 21-13, 19-21, 21-13 to seal the win 3-0.  Ukraine will now face Poland in their semi-finals.

Women’s Events

Once again the Danish team had an opportunity for rest as the were through with a bye to the semis alongside the Netherlands.  The Danes would face the winners of Germany and Bulgaria.  The Germans proved too strong for the Bulgarians winning in three straight matches.  Juliane Schenk led the way with her win over Petya Nedelcheva, followed by Karin Schnasse beating Linda Zetchiri, and finally Fabienne Deprez defeating Dimitria Popstoykova. The Germans will now face Denmark.

The next tie was between Russia and Scotland. The first women’s singles was between Ella Diehl and Susan Egelstaff who faced off against each other in the Scottish International in late 2009. In that meeting Egelstaff was the victor, but Diehl had her revenge winning easily 21-12, 21-12. Tatjana Bibik took the next point for Russia beating Linda Sloan 21-14, 21-9. Finally it was the Russian pairing of Vislova and Sorokina who would seal their team’s place in the semi-finals with a win over Bankier and Mason 21-11, 21-15. The Russians will now play the Netherlands.

Click here for full results from the European Team Championships 2010

Marc Zwiebler

The day started with two Scottish hopefuls in the final, unseeded Emma Mason and Mariana Agathangelou took on the top seeded Russian duo of Nina Vislova and Valeria Sorokina in the first final of the day. The local support rallied behind the British couple when they took a 12-11 lead early in the first set, only for the Russian pair to storm to the opening set 21-16.

The second set went much the same way as the first, with the Russian top seeds leading and refusing to let go of their lead, taking the second game 21-16 to claim the title. Marc Zweibler played Peter Mikkelsen in the Men’s Singles final, with both looking impressive on their way to the final.

Zweibler took a closely fought out first game 21-15, only for Mikkelsen to respond to take the second game by the same score but Zweibler dominated the final game and took it 21-16 to claim the Men’s Singles title.

The Men’s Doubles match turned into a fabulous encounter between the 3rd and 4th seeds, with the English 4th seeds of Middleton and Langridge taking a tight first game 21-19 and then saved 5 game points in the second but couldn’t get their own chance and lost the second game 26-24. The Danish 3rd seeds of Conrad-Petersen and Pieler Kolding dominated the third game and at 8-8 won 13 of the next 16 points to win the third game 21-11.

The mixed doubles was the most one-sided of the finals, with Valeria Sorokina and Alexander Nikolaenko defeating Raj and Renuga Veeran 21-11, 21-16 in just 23 minutes.  The last match of the day pitted the top two seeds in the women’s singles against each other, with Susan Egelstaff in her first Scottish International final.

Ella Diehl dominated the opening part of the first game, only for Egelstaff to respond and from 18-17 down took the next four points to take the first game 21-18. If the first game was a nervy encounter, the second game was a precession from the 2nd seed Scot. Ella Diehl’s level dropped dramatically and Egelstaff was in commanding form as she took the second game 21-10 to win her first Scottish International title.

Sunday’s Results

Marc Zwiebler

Susan Egelstaff and Emma Mason have kept local interests alive into Sunday’s finals day with two wins on Saturday, Susan Egelstaff defeated 8th seed Tatiana Bibik in 3 games in the quarter final then booked her place in the final with a two game victory over Switzerland’s Jeanine Cicognini.

Egelstaff will play top seed Ella Diehl in the final, after the Russian beat unseeded Turk Li Shuang in two close games in the quarters before beating 3rd seeded Linda Zechiri in three games to set up a first versus second seed final.

Przemyslaw Wacha’s quarter final matchup with Jan Vondra never took place, with the 8th seeded Czech pulling out the night before, 4th seeded Peter Mikkelsen continued his excellent run and took out the second seed at the semi final stage in two close games, winning 21-19, 21-18.

Mikkelsen will play top seeded Marc Zweibler in the final, after the German defeated 6th seeded Vladimir Malkov in two games 21-14, 21-14 followed by 7th seeded Scott Evans in three games to book his place in the final.

Emma Mason and partner Mariana Agathangelou also reached tomorrow’s Women’s Doubles final after two superb wins. The first against the 2nd seeded Danish pair of Neilsen and Ropke and then a comfortable two set win over Cooper and Ward in an all-British semi final. This will be Agathangelou’s third consecutive final in the Women’s doubles at the Scottish International.

They will play the Russian top seeds Nina Vislova and Valeria Sorokina, who had to come through 2 three game encounters to reach the final. The first against unseeded Dutch duo of Jonathans and Van Dooremalen, winning 21-12 in the third and against 3rd seeded Indian pair Balan and Kurian, defeating them 21-14 in the third.

Play begins at 1pm on Sunday.

Scottish International Championships 2009 Draws

Przemyslaw Wacha

The top 2 seeds in both singles events are through to the last 8 of the Scottish International, Marc Zwiebler has been impressive in his progression to the last eight as has second seeded Przemyslaw Wacha, neither player has dropped a game to date.

Marc Zwiebler plays Vladimir Malkov in the last 8, with Wacha playing Jan Vondra of the Czech Republic in the quarter finals. Unseeded Sourabh Verma plays Peter Scott Evans while Irwansyah plays Peter Mikkelsen in the other quarter finals.

Both Diehl and Egelstaff survived a first game scare in their last 16 to come through to make the last 8. Ella Diehl beat Carola Bott in the 3rd Round while Susan Egelstaff defeated Michelle Chan Ky. Diehl plays unseeded Turk Li Shuang whilst Susan Egelstaff plays Tatiana Bibik in the quarter finals.

Linda Zechiri plays Any Nieminen and Sayali Gokhale will play Jeanine Cicognini, who put out last years winner Elizabeth Cann in Round 2.

Nina Vislova and Vitalij Durkin will start off play again tomorrow, this time they play 5th seed Tony Ng and Grace Gao in the Mixed Doubles quarter finals. With all 5 top seeds still in the competition, it could be another year for Russian domination in the Scottish International.

UPDATE: Przemyslaw Wacha is through to the semi-finals as Jan Vondra has withdrawn.

Play begins tomorrow at 10am local time
Scottish International Championships 2009 Draws

Saturday’s play begun with top seeds Robin Middleton and Mariana Agathangelou in quarterfinal action against Christian John Skovgard and Maria Heisbol, 21 minutes and two games later, the top seeds booked their place in the semi finals later that day, winning 21-12, 21-10. They were joined the semi finals by another English pair, Marcus Ellis and Heather Olver who beat 2nd seeds Dave Khodabux and Samantha Barning 23-21, 21-19.

Both English couples secured semi final victories to make the Mixed Doubles final an all-English affair, both coming through in three games. Middleton and Agathanegelou beating Tim Dettman of Germany and Emelie Lennartsson of Sweden, whilst Olver and Ellis defeated Indian duo K. Tarun and Shruti Kurian.

Top seed in the Women’s Singles, Juliane Schenk made light work of her two matches today to secure a place in Sunday’s final, first defeating Patty Stolzenbach 21-14, 21-4 in the quarter finals, then beat 3rd seed Anu Nieminen 21-13, 21-13. Her opponent in tomorrow’s final is another Dutch woman, 4th seeded Rachel Van Cutsen, who defeated Karina Jorgensen in the quarterfinals and 2nd seed Larisa Griga in the semi finals, both in two games.

The final of the Men’s Singles is a battle of the top two seeds; Marc Zweibler was in dominant form as he disposed of 7th seeded Henri Hurskainen in the quarterfinals, then 3rd seeded Christian Lind Thomsen in the semi finals. Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, seeded 2 also had little trouble booking his place in tomorrow’s final. Defeating unseeded Magnus Sahlberg in the quarterfinals and then Estonia’s 4th seed Raul Must in the semi finals. With all four matches won by the top two seeds being won in two games.

The top seeds in the Women’s Doubles, Helle Neilsen and Marie Ropke are also through, after defeating England’s Heather Olver and Scotland’s Emma Mason in the semi final in two tight games, 23-21 and 24-22, they will play unseeded Samantha Barning and Eefje Muskens of Holland in tomorrows final.

Saturday’s Results

Day two of the Norwegian Open saw the start of all five events, with most of the seeded players progressing through to the second round, Chloe Magee who was seeded 6th in the Women’s Singles lost out to Karina Jorgensen in three games was the first of the seeded players to crash out.

The sixth seed in the Men’s Singles, Dmytro Zavadsky crashed out to Sweden’s Magnus Sahlberg in two close games, then the 7th seed in the Women’s Singles, Michelle Chan lost out of Holland’s Patty Stolzenbach in three games, losing 21-15 in the third game.

The top seeds have progressed safety the Quarter Final stage, with Juliane Schenk progressing without dropping a game whilst Marc Zweibler was taken to three games in his second round match against Kristian Neilsen. He plays 7th seed Henri Hurskainen in Saturday’s Quarter Final.

Play begins tomorrow with top seeded Mixed Doubles pair Robin Middleton and Mariana Agathangelou playing unseeded Christian John Skovgaard and Maria Heisbol. The Men’s Singles begins at 11.40, with Zweibler against Hurskainen and Christian Lind Thomsen, seeded 3 playing Scott Evans, the 8th seed from Ireland.

Juliane Schenk plays Patty Stolzenbach at 11.40, as well as 3rd seeded Anu Nieminen plays Truoti Murgunde of India, seeded 8.

Friday’s Results

Saturday’s Order of Play

The Norwegian International Championships is the beginning of a 4-week run of events on the Badminton Europe calendar, taking the players to Norway, Scotland, Wales and then Ireland.

There is a large Scandinavian contingent in the draw as expected, but the top seeds are of a German nationality, Marc Zweibler is top seed in the men’s singles draw, followed by three Danes in the next four seeds. Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, Christian Lind Thomsen and Peter Mikkelsen are all challengers to the title this week.

Juliane Schenk, another German is top seed in the Women’s Singles, with Larisa Griga, Anu Nieminen and Rachel Van Cutsen making up the top 4 seedings. The top two seeds in the Men’s Doubles are also German, with Michael Fuchs and Ingo Kindervater top seeded for the event.

The Women’s Doubles top seed are Helle Nielsen and Marie Ropke, with Sandra Marinello and Birgit Overzier of Germany being third seeded. The top seeds in the Mixed Doubles is Robin Middleton and Mariana Agathangelou of England, who is also seeded in the Women’s Doubles with Jillie Cooper of Scotland.

Qualification begins on Thursday at 1pm local time.

Norwegian International Championships 2009 Draws

The draws for the French Open Super Series have been released, and from the looks of things the only big name missing from the men’s singles is Lee Chong Wei. Now, of course that is a very big name, but certainly with Lin Dan in the mix we can expect some excellent badminton. Lin Dan will be seeded first, and on the opposite side of the draw we have Peter Gade as second seed. In the second round we will have a rematch between Gade and Jan O Jorgensen, and after losing to Jorgensen last week in Odense you can be sure that he will be ready for another fight. It will be much more difficult for Marc Zwiebler to replicate last week’s great run in Paris as he has to face Chen Jin in the first round, but with some new found confidence perhaps Chen Jin has something to be worried about.

With the Chinese team back in full force the womens singles is also jam packed tough competition. Wang Lin is back and is first seed, although Hong Kong’s Zhou Mi has withdrawn for unknown reasons. Denmark’s Tine Rasmussen is the fourth seed, and she will meet her first big test in the quarters against Jiang Yanjiao. Wang Yihan will be the third seed and she has to face the strong youngster Wang Xin in the first round.

For the full draws visit the link below:
French Open Super Series 2009 Draws

With a combined total of five hours and twenty eight minutes, today’s finals were a treat for the spectators. A tiring affair, but certainly everyone got their money’s worth. The day got started with the women’s doubles between China’s Pan Pan and Zhang Yawen against the home grown favourites Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Lena Frier Kristiansen. Clocking in at an hour and six minutes the Chinese pair took the title with a final scoreline of 22-20, 18-21, 21-12. Kamilla and Lena discuss the match below:

Following that match was another China vs Denmark match up featuring Wang Yihan and Tine Rasmussen, the first and second seeds respectively. Another marathon match, but this time it was a different story as Denmark managed to clinch their first title of the day as Rasmussen won this match 21-18, 19-21, 21-14 in an hour and four minutes. Rasmussen quoted her positive mental outlook as the key to her success on the day:

The day’s longest match of the day came next in the mixed doubles between Denmark’s Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christina Pedersen and England’s Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg. After an hour and twenty two minutes the defending champions Fischer Nielsen and Pedersen were the victors once again with a score of 21-16, 25-27, 21-17. Fischer Nielsen credits their will and determination to win as the reason that they came through after this long match:

In spite of their stellar performance in the tournament, Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen will have to settle for second best today as Malaysia’s Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong were too strong for the Danes. Boe and Mogensen took the lead initially with a 20-22 win in the first game, but the Malaysian’s stormed back to take the second 21-14 and the third 21-17. The popular Koo had the following to say after their match:

The last match of the day was unfortunately the worst. After such a spectacular run this week Marc Zwiebler’s magic touch seemed to have run out, or perhaps the string of upsets was too much for his legs. Either way, today was Santoso’s day as the young Indonesian won in two quick games 21-14, 21-6 in thirty eight minutes. Regardless of the poor performance in the finals today Zwiebler played a fantastic tournament and will likely be enjoying some new found confidence against the world’s top players.

For full results and draws visit the link below:
Denmark Open Super Series 2009 Draws

It seemed as though the story of the tournament was the progress of Danish youngster Jan O Jorgensen, but Germany’s Marc Zwiebler is the real dark horse to look out for. Unseeded in this event, and with not a single easy opponent for the entire tournament, he has shown that he is capable of competing with the world’s best. Today he had to play Sony Dwi Kuncoro, the tournament’s second seed and he was magnificent. With no expectations on him Zwiebler has continued to play better with each passing match. After more than an hour Zwiebler defeated Kuncoro in three games 21-10, 16-21, 21-15.

Unable to keep his standard from last night, Jan O Jorgensen lost to Simon Santoso from Indonesia in two straight games 21-13, 21-13. Disappointed by his loss, Jorgensen can’t be too disappointed with himself as this has shown the level at which he is capable of playing, but as he told the press he needs to be more consistent and prevent playing as poorly as he did today. Santoso will now face Marc Zwiebler in the only final not to feature a Danish player.

Wang Yihan will be the only top seed left on the finals day tomorrow, and her opponent is the second seeded Tine Rasmussen. Wang had a close match with Japan’s Eriko Hirose in the semi-finals, winning 21-13, 19-21, 21-11 in an hour and four minutes. In spite of her top billing the pressure is surely on Rasmussen tomorrow as she aims to impress her home crowd.

Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christina Pedersen had a scare in their semi-final match, down a match point in the third game the fought back to win the match when Mateusiak hit a smash in the net. The final score was 21-18, 19-21, 23-21 and took an hour and twelve minutes. In the final they will face off against England’s Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg who played well to defeat China’s Tao Jiaming and Zhang Yawen 21-18, 21-17.

Denmark’s Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen have reason to be proud today after defeating the top seeded pairing of Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan. Boe and Mogensen commented that they had to bring their game to a new level in order to win their match today, and it appears that they did just that. In the final they will face Malaysia’s top pairing of Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong after they defeated China’s Sun Junjie and Tao Jiaming in two straight games

While Thomas Laybourn’s injury kept Kamill Rytter Juhl out of the mixed doubles, it hasn’t stopped her from showing she has strong prospects in the women’s doubles as well. With partner Lena Frier Kristiansen she has made it to the finals after defeating Japan’s Shizuka Matsuo and Mami Nato in three very close games 19-21, 21-18, 21-19. They will have to face China’s sixth seeded Pan Pan and Zhang Yawen. The Chinese women have always been known to dominate in the women’s doubles events so in spite of their sixth seeding the Danes will have to play very well in order to win tomorrow.

Full results and draws:
Denmark Open Super Series 2009 Draws