BWF World Championship 2018 LIVE: Chen – Viktor delivered a nail-biting duel
Chinese legend Chen Long avenged his semi-final loss last season against World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen in the quarter-finals at the 2018 BWF World Championships in Nanjing, China.
It took almost an hour for Chen to defeat the Dane in straight sets at 21-19, 21-11.
Starting with an early 4-0 lead, the 35-year-old Chen, with disappointments and accurate judgments from the baseline, dominated plays with all his experience over the 24-year-old to seal the first game.
In the second game, Chen never let Viktor catch up to him and held the huge gap at the pinnacle point.
Previously, Chinese third-seeded Shi Yuqi entered the Semifinals after losing the three-set match in the Round of 16 against Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in the 72-minute contest.
The Chinese who were able to win the first game with a 14-11 lead, were left stranded as their opponent sailed on with 7 points in a row and the game.
In the second game, Shi improved with the points from 6-4 to 13-4, but Chou somehow managed to catch his opponent with a score of 14-16.
Shi played a lazy game with the big point difference against the Taipei player. However, third seed Shi switched gears to level the score at 16-16, followed by winning three points in a row.
Chou could get another point before succumbing to the Chinese.
What an incredible victory for World No. 3 and Indian Olympic winner PV Sindhu, who put in a sensational performance against Japanese powerhouse Nozomi Okuhara. The nail-biting 58-minute match was a series of interesting plays, crossover drops, ferocious backhands and tactful trick shots.
Sindhu’s utter confidence and composure on the court surpassed Nozomi’s wit and tact as the talented champion finished the match with a winning score of 21-17, 21-19. In both sets, Nozomi was strong enough to beat the Indian opponent, however, Sindhu’s patience and psychological reading worked well in her favor as she got into the flow and played smart.
In the men’s singles, Sai Praneeth played well but went down giving Japanese master Kento Momoto a good run in a 38-minute elbow-to-elbow duel. Sai Praneeth lost the game by a score of 21-12, 21-12.
It really is a good day for Chinese mixed doubles players as they entered the quarterfinals with the most wins at the 2018 BWF World Championships in Nanjing, China.
Underseeded Zhang Nan and Li Yinhui beat Danes Mathias Christiansen and Christinna Pedersen 21-15, 22-20 in a match that lasted 53 minutes.
The Chinese who trailed in the first half of the opening game at 7-11 raced into the lead with 6 straight points in a row to take the game on their own. And the second game was a close encounter, which was justified by the Chinese.
In another mixed doubles match, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa ended their challenge after losing to Chinese top seeds Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong 17-21, 10-21 in the quarterfinals.
Satwik and Ashwini are the only top-seeded pair left in the mixed doubles event who never got a chance to recover on the court early on.
2017 world runner-up Zheng was in good form at the back of the court, while Yaqiong was very aggressive at net. The cohesive pairing played well mixing pace from behind and at net.
With all her experience, Ashwini focused on the game, while the teenage Satwik betrayed some nerves with a couple of serving faults and overhit smashes in the opening game. But as the match progressed, the junior recovered well, helping the senior narrow the gap to 17-18.
Later, a serving error by Satwik cost him the game.
There was one-way traffic from the top seeds, who built a slim 11-4 lead. The Chinese pair closed the game with a comfortable error victory by Satwik once again.
In another match, English pair Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock lost to Chinese stars Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping 13-21, 18-21 in a 44-minute match.
The highlight of the match was the smash battle between the teams.