Aliye Demirbag (Turkey) made some history today: Never before has a Turkish Badminton Player reached the semi-finals of a former Grand Prix tournament or higher, which is now Super 100 level tournament.
But Demirbag did it with a lot of aggressive and energetic play. Besides, she did not only make history for Turkey, but also a little bit for herself.
- I played Julia Dawall Jakobsen three times before and I lost of all them.
- I am glad that my hard work paid of. It was my day.
Read: Merkle doesn't leave without a fight!
Qi Xuefei Turkish blocker
Unfortunately, Demirbag did not succeed to upgrade her ‘medal’. In two exhausting games she lost to Qi Xuefei (China) with 21-16 and 21-13.
Xuefei played also against Demirbag’s compatriot Neshlihan Yigit the day before. To Demirbag’s dissatisfaction as she would have liked to play against Yigit today.
- Then at least one Turkish player would be the final.
Read: Europe dominate the semi-finals in Almere!
Hope on Blichfeldt.
So none of the Turkish players reached the final, just like many other European women’s singles players who eventually fell short to others.
However, Mia Blichfeldt (Denmark) played steady so far and has her arrows on fulfilling her seeding. Today she overclassed Rachel Honderich (Canada) with 21-
Tomorrow she will play against Qi Xuefei and hopefully succeed in what the Turkish players could not: beat Qi Xuefei and win the Dutch Open!
Find all the matches and the results of the Dutch Open 2018 here