General

Gilmour now moves on to face Malaysia's Zhang Beiwen. Photo Credit: Badminton Photo
Gilmour secures upset as Axelsen is toppled
Date: 9/28/2018 10:40 AM
Published by : David Grice(BEC)

It was an impressive outing for Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour, as she managed to oust second seeded Thai singles player and former world champion Ratchanok Intanon 21-18, 21-17 to progress to the quarter finals on day three of the Korea Open in Seoul.

A strong start in both sets gave Gilmour enough of a gap to maintain her straight sets win and secure one of the biggest wins of her career.

“I think I just managed to get a hold of the conditions in the hall” Gilmour told Badminton Scotland.

“Ratchanok relies a lot on precision to the lines and she made a few errors on that today, so I knew if I kept my play controlled and concise I could be in with a shout.

“This is definitely up there with some of my best play so the fact that I've come out on top is a bonus.

“I only ever focus on my performance, not the outcome, but I'm happy to have strung these wins back to back.”

Elsewhere in the women’s singles, it was not to be for Denmark’s Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt as she was comfortably seen off by fourth seeded Korean Sung Ji Hyun 21-14, 21-8.

There was very little European success today. The only other victory came from the mixed doubles in the form of second seeded Danish pair Mathias Christiansen and Christinna Pedersen. They did extremely well to avoid going to a third set as they battled through to defeat Malaysian pair Chen Tang Jie and Peck Yen Wei 21-13, 22-20.

It was disappointing outing for English third seeds Chris and Gabrielle Adcock. They went out to South Korea’s Seo Seung Jae and Chae Yujung 25-23, 21-13. Despite moving into a 19-14 lead, Seo and Chae managed to turn it around and snatch the opening set. After that, the Adcocks never regained control and their Korean Open campaign was over.

See also: Adcocks win back-to-back European titles

Shock defeat for Axelsen

It was a day to forget for world number one men’s singles player Victor Axelsen, as the Dane lost a big first set lead to in the end bow out to China’s Zhao Junpeng 27-25, 21-9.

The first set saw Axelsen surge into a 19-12 lead. But after losing eight consecutive points, Zhao eventually edged the opener 27-25. The loss of that first set seemed to affect Axelsen, as the second set was quickly out of his reach as Zhao took the second set 21-9.

In other men’s singles news, Denmark’s Anders Antonsen put in a valiant performance in his narrow three-set defeat to second seeded Japanese player Kento Momota. After saving three match-points in the second set to take it to a decider, Momota’s experience showed once the match went to 14-14. After that, Antonsen could not quite claim the big points when it mattered as Momota won 21-18, 20-22, 21-16.

See also: Antonsen looking back to his best in great win

Earlier in the day, European participation in both the men’s and women’s doubles was over. It ended with a couple of straight set defeats for Denmark’s David Daugaard and Fredrik Sogaard as well as Germany’s Linda Efler and Isabel Herttrich against Japanese opponents respectively.

For a full list of the draws and results, click here.


©badmintoneurope.com. All rights reserved.

Related news
27/03/2024
EOC Executive Committee awards 2027 European Games to Istanbul
The European Olympic Committee...

27/03/2024
Madrid Spain Masters day 2: Victories, upsets, and excitement on court.
French siblings sweep to victo...

26/03/2024
A first action-packed day unfolds at the Spain Masters
The Madrid Spain Masters 2024 ...

26/03/2024
Spain Masters begins today with an unexpected withdrawal!
Madrid is buzzing with excitem...

25/03/2024
Lane/ Vendy and Marin, victorious at Swiss Open
The Swiss Open concluded this ...

24/03/2024
Marin and Lane/Vendy secure finalist spots at the Swiss Open
The semifinals have concluded ...

More news