Most of the European entries delivered on the day of the quarterfinals at YONEX-SUNRISE DR. AKHILESH DAS GUPTA India Open 2018 on Friday. Danish men’s doubles Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen still have the chance to play their first final on the HSBC BWF World Tour level.
They beat He Jiting and Tan Qiang from China in the quarterfinal in straight games earlier on Friday; 21-13, 21-14. A performance that Astrup was very satisfied about;
- We were very tactically sharp and had prepared ourselves well for the task. We played with energy and were successful at maintaining the things that worked. So, we are really satisfied with the effort today.
The Danes can therefore look forward to playing the semifinal at the Super 500 level against Han Chengkai and Zhou Haodong from China. A young constellation that beat Carsten Mogensen and Mathias Boe in Round 2.
A lot of respect
- The two young Chinese that beat Boe and Mogensen are a really good pair, otherwise they would never have had a chance against them. So, we have a lot of respect for them, Astrup said to Badminton Europe.
- But we are going to watch some video and prepare ourselves at the maximum, and then I think that if we can find the same level as today we will have an OK chance of playing our first BWF World Tour final.
And when Astrup was asked what the duo’s focus is during the first part of the new year, he answered: - Our focus is to win tomorrow!
European results
Denmark had a good day in New Delhi as three out of three possible semifinalists became a reality. Kamilla Ryttter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen showed no signs of weakness in the quarterfinal against Dubthuk and Saengchote.
Later on, Pedersen also won her mixed doubles with partner Mathias Christiansen. They beat Rankireddy and Ponnappa from India 21-17, 21-11 and will face the 8th seeded constellation in the semifinal on Saturday.
The two Spanish women’s singles’ Carolina Marin and Beatriz Corrales did not manage to pull through in the quarterfinals. Marin fell in two sets to Cheung Ngan Yi in the bottom half of the draw, and Corrales took Sindhu into three games without luck in the top half.
Find the full results from the quarterfinals at India Open here