Defending champion Jan ø. Jørgensen failed to defend his Yonex German Open title after losing to Chou Tien Chen, world number 7, in the semi-finals.

For top seed Jørgensen, who won the title last year by beating Indonesia's Rumbaka in straight games, it was the first individual tournament in three months. After one hour and three minutes on court against the Asian shuttler, the European Champion suffered a loss in three games 21-16, 14-21, 17-21.

But the Dane did not let the defeat to the Taiwan shuttler knock his confidence:

“Damn, it was a close defeat to Chou Tien Chen in Saturday's semis-finals. It was not my best game but still a great week with many matches”, Jørgensen wrote via Facebook and added: “I already arrived in Birmingham hoping for a big week. I will face Jen Hao Hsu also of Taiwan in the first round on Wednesday. The next days, I will do the final preparation together with the rest of the Danish team!”

Axelsen and Zwiebler with early exits

It’s fair to say that both Viktor Axelsen and Marc Zwiebler hoped for a lot more when they stepped onto the RWE Arena last week.

Viktor Axelsen faced world no 44 Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the opening round. But it wasn’t to be for the Dane. After a staggering display from Nishimoto, especially in the last two games, Axelsen suffered an unexpected early defeat.

“Early exit here at the German Open. I lost out in a match where things definitely didn't turn out as I'd have hoped for. Kenta played better and better throughout the match, and I must say that I struggled a lot with my body during the game. That is obviously frustrating; and it is something I have to pay attention to during the next week”, the 22-year-old wrote on Facebook.

Also the local hope, former European Champion Marc Zwiebler, had to accept an early loss. The German number one was outplayed in the second round by Tien Minh Nguyen (Vietnam) in straight games 21-15, 21-17.

“I am obviously disappointed and gutted with my performance but it's too late to change now. It's now time to hit the gym and practice hard for the challenges to come within the next few months”, a frustrated Zwiebler said.

Lin Dan took his sixth German Open title

Two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan was the big superstar at the Grand Prix Gold event in Western Germany.

The Chinese came from behind to overcome Chou Tien-chen to secure his sixth German Open title. 32-year-old lost the opening game 15-21 against his seventh-ranked opponent but recovered to take the second and third games 21-17.



But it was Korea’s Ko Sung-hyun who proved the the biggest winner of the day, taking the men’s doubles title alongside Shin Baek-cheol who he earlier beat to win the mixed doubles crown with partner Kim Ha-na.

European champions in the men's doubles, Ivan Sozonov and Vladimir Ivanov, reached the semi-finals only losing to the eventual champions, Ko Sung-hyun and Shin Baek-cheol in three games 18-21, 21-18, 21-23 in a super close match.

Also Denmark's Line Kjærsfeldt showed her big potential in Germany as she stormed into the quarter-final stage losing to world number 11, Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, in three games.

Robert Mateusiak and Nadieszda Zieba of Poland, the European Champions in 2012, reached the semi-finals in Germany.

The two-time world champion Carolina Marin (Spain) pulled out of the tournament in Mülheim because of an injury.

The Yonex German Open is a BWF Gold Grand Prix event and offers a total prize money of 120.000 Dollars.

The finals results:

XD: Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na (KOR) - Shin Baek Cheol/Chae Yoo Jung (KOR) 21-19, 21-12
WS: Li Xuerui (CHN) - Wang Shixian (CHN) 21-14, 21-17
WD: Huang Yaqiong/Tang Jinhua (CHN) - Puttita Supajirakul/Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA) 21-14, 21-18
MD: Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol (KOR) - Lee Yong-dae/Yoo Yeon-seong (KOR) 20-22, 21-18, 21-17
MS: Lin Dan (CHN) - Chou Tien Chen (TPE) 15-21, 21-17, 21-17

For more information, visit the official tournament website at http://www.german-open-badminton.de. 

Article by Manuel Rösler. Photos by BadmintonPhoto.