Today it was quarter finals time at the Daihatsu Indonesia Master in Jakarta. As quarter finals should be, it was a day full of well fought matches at this Super 500 tournament.
Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus (Denmark) had the challenging honour to play against Chou Tien Chen from Chinese Taipei. Last year they faced each other five times and Vittinghus lost all of the duels. He hoped that today would finally be different.
Vittinghus seemed very determined about his goal and immediately started with a 6-0 lead. Chen was able to come back to 10-10, but Vittinghus rushed into his lead again and won the first game with 21-15. The second game was a reverse of the first, which means it all came down to the third game..
‘I thought I had it today, but wasn’t good enough in the key moments of the match. Had my chances, but Chou did well to stay in the game all the time and wrap it up in the end’, Vittinghus stated on his facebook page.
Read: Polikarpova: It's a good start after a break
Up to next in Dehli.
Despite his loss, Vittinghuss is not unsatisfied with his game. ‘I am 100% certain I’m on the right path. I remain determined to make 2018 my year’ Vittinghus continued on facebook. Now he is making his way up to Dehli, where he will play the Indian Open 2018.
Also Carolina Marin (Spain) is clearing her head for the next Super 500 tournament in India next week. She also faced a long and close defeat today against He Bingjiao (China). ‘Eliminated at Indonesia Masters, time to think in India Open.’ She wrote on her facebook page.
Rasmus Gemke (Denmark) played his first Super500 quarter final. Unfortunately this was the end stage for now for Gemke at this tournament level. He lost to Kazumasa Sakai from Japan.
‘still a great match and experience that I will take with me for next week in India’ Gemke commented on his facebook page.
Read: Gemke: I would like to win more matches at this level
Semi-final spot for Juhl and Pedersen
Luckily, there are still Europeans to see tomorrow at the semi-finals. Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christina Pedersen (Denmark) have to keep the European honour high as they are the only ones left in the tournament. Also Mads Conrad Petersen and Mads Conrad Petersen (Denmark) faced a close defeat against Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Shirag Shetty from India.
Juhl and Pedersen had a quite easy win against Thai pair Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai. ‘Tricky conditions in the arena today with a lot of wind made us work hard to find our rhyme in the first set, which we in the end managed to win 21-18. In 2nd set we had the good feeling and won 21-10’ Juhl and Pedersen stated after their match on their facebook page.
Tomorrow Juhl and Pedersen will face Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi from Japan. This Japanese pair were the former number one pair for almost two years. However, Juhl and Pedersen also beat them six times before. It promises to be an exciting match!
To follow view all the matches and livescore in Jakarta, see here.