Carolina Marin and Viktor Axelsen reached the semi-finals of the DAIHATSU YONEX Japan Open 2018. Other remaining European players were dropped out of the tournament.
Day 4 in Tokyo was the day of the quarter finals. Thereby, one match implied a final character: Two-time Olympic and five-time world champion Lin Dan played against Kento Momota from Japan - and lost. Momota won clearly with 21-8 and 21-10.
With his victory over Dan, Momota reached the semi-finals of the DAIHATSU YONEX Japan Open 2018. But for Momota, this victory is related to a new challenge: He has to play against the defending champion of Tokyo, Viktor Axelsen.
Axelsen wins after one hour
Viktor Axelsen was playing against the Indonesian Sinisuka Ginting in the quarter final. After one hour of play, the umpires announced the final result: 21-17 and 21-15 for the Dane.
Thereby, Axelsen was legging behind in the first game but was able to decide the game upon himself. His match point consisted of the shuttle touching the net. The semi-final against Momota will be the fourth game on Saturday, the first match begins at 3:00 AM (CET).
Watch Axelsen match point over Ginting here
A victory for Marin
Next to Axelsen, another European top player is qualified for the semi-finals of this year’s Japan Open. Carolina Marin won 21-18 and 21-19 against Ratchanok Itanon from Thailand. Now, Marin is playing in the semi-finals on Saturday. Her opponent this time: Chen Yufei from China.
Two doubles were kicked out
For four other remaining European players, the dream of receiving the title is nothing more than a dream now. The Bulgarian sisters, Stefani and Gabriela Stoeva, as well as Jelle Maas and Robin Tabeling from the Netherlands lost their quarter finals.
On Thursday, the world ranked 45 Dutch pair already achieved a big success. They won over world ranked 22 pair Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen from Denmark.
For a full list of the draws and results, click here.