Marathon encounter sees Olympic women’s singles champion prevail in three sets.

It was double delight in Delhi for Spain as both of their remaining representatives in the women’s singles progress to the quarter finals of the Indian Open.

However, it was not all too easy for Spain’s Olympic champion Carolina Marin, as she recovered from a set down to topple China’s Gao Fangjie 13-21, 21-15, 21-11 in 1hour 11mins.

Gao came out strong and looked as if a shock would be on the cards. But a neat turnaround in set number two saw Marin’s confidence show in her shots during the decider. Victory was confirmed after a comfortable win in the third set to set-up a quarter-final encounter with sixth seed Cheung Ngan Yi from Hong Kong.

Earlier in the day, fellow Spaniard and eighth seed Beatriz Corrales battled hard to take down unseeded Indian Gadde Ruthvika Shivani in straight sets 21-19, 21-16.

Uphill battle

Despite Spain doing Europe proud, it was a mixed bag of results in the women’s singles. It was always going to be an uphill battle for Bulgaria’s Linda Zetchiri, as she did battle against top seed Pusaria Venkata Sindhu, as well as the excited home crowd pulling for their national hero. Sindhu prevailed 21-10, 21-14.

It was a similar effort by Denmark’s Line Højmark Kjærsfeldt, who did very little to upset the form book as she fell to India’s fourth seed Saina Nehwal 21-12, 21-11.

Boe and Mogensen lost to China

There was a shock result in the men’s doubles, as Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen were dumped out of the competition, by China’s Han Chengkai and Zhou Haodong in three sets.

The opening set saw the tournament’s second seeded pair begin strongly. Whilst coping at defending from their Chinese opponents, almost every attack from Boe and Mogensen ended up as a winner.

However, the second set saw a lot more resistance from Han and Zhou. With the Danes having a narrow 11-10 lead halfway through the second set, they knew they needed to step it up a few gears to avoid playing a deciding set. But as they improved their game, so did the Chinese pair, and they deservedly snatched the second set 22-20.

After that, Han and Zhou never looked back and Boe and Mogensen had no answer. In the end, the Danes were ousted 21-14.

Thankfully it was not all doom and gloom for Denmark, as fourth seeds Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen comfortably saw off Indian qualifiers Francis Alwin and Kidambi Nandagopal 21-13, 21-10. They are now Europe’s sole representative that remains in the men’s doubles competition.

Good day for Juhl and Pedersen

The wins kept on coming later in the days play for the Scandinavian nation, as women’s doubles pair Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen proved to everyone why they deserve to be top seeds. Their 21-11, 21-16 win against China’s Cao Tong Wei and Yu Zheng showed heart and determination, despite being tested for the majority of the second set.

There was more European success in the mixed doubles, as Denmark’s Mathias Christiansen and Christinna Pedersen quickly took care of India’s Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg 21-10, 21-11. The fifth seeded pair managed to secure victory in less than half an hour, to reach the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Russian pair Evgenij Dremin and Evgenia Dimova are making the most of the withdrawal of England’s Chris and Gabrielle Adcock, as they came through the bottom section of the draw. Their 21-19, 21-12 win over Hong Kong’s Chang Tak Ching and Ng Wing Yung takes into the final eight.

Sadly, there was to be no further involvement for any European players in the men’s singles, as Russia’s Vladimir Malkov could not produce an inspired performance to out-do sixth seed Wang Tzu Wei from Chinese Taipei. Despite winning the first 21-19, that promising start gradually faded the longer the match went on. Wang recovered to edge the second 21-18, and ran away with the decider 21-11 to send Malkov packing.

See also: all results from the Indian Open