The Danish men’s singles Rasmus Gemke continues his international breakthrough as he secured a spot in the semi-final at Indonesia Masters. The first Super 500 semi-final in the Dane’s career.
Gemke recently won his first international BWF title at 2017 Bitburger Open and is looking to continue the streak as he won the second round earlier on Thursday.
- Naturally it feels freaking good to be in my first Superseries quarter-final. And it means even more that it is in Asia where the conditions are tougher, Gemke said to Badminton Europe about his win.
- The thing that worked for me in general was my patience on court and the speed in my legs.
Avoids Axelsen in the quarter-final
Gemke suffered a defeat in the first round last week in Malaysia, but in Indonesia he seems to have found his game.
The Dane beat Jeon of Korea 23-21, 21-15 and his fellow countryman Viktor Axelsen could have been his quarter-final opponent. But the World champion retired from his match due to an injury in his ankle, and Gemke will face Sakai from Japan on Friday’s showdown.
- First and foremost, I am of course sad that Viktor had to retire with an injury. But it will be exciting tomorrow to play against a player of Sakai’s caliber. It is tough to say what my goal is, but it would be great to win more matches of this Superseries or higher level.
European results
Another fellow Dane is also ready for the quarter-final in the other half of the men’s singles draw. Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus beat Wei Feng Chong from Malaysia; 21-18, 11-21, 21-11. Carolina Marin of Spain beat her team mate Line Kjærsfeldt from Denmark to seal a spot on the schedule on Friday, as well.
Furthermore, Mads Pieler Kolding and Mads Conrad-Petersen are trying their luck once more steering towards the quarter-final sagain, after a semi-final in Malaysia Masters last week.
The champions in women’s doubles from last week are also keeping up the heat in Indonesia; Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark will face the 6th seeds Kititharakul and Prajonjai in the quarter-final on Friday.