Sole remaining Danish men’s doubles pair Mads Conrad Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding grabbed control of men’s doubles group A today in Dubai to guaranteed themselves a semi-final spot in the Super Series Finals with still one group match remaining.
The Dane, clearly riding the crest of a wave after victory over top seeds Kamura & Sonada (JPN) yesterday, continued their domination of the group taking down their second consecutive higher seeded pair as they head towards the big money end of the tournament.
There were high stakes in today’s match against Marcus Fernaldi Gideon & Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo as the Indonesian pair, coming into the match, were also one for one with victory on the opening day. The Danes made their intentions known early in the match storming to a first set win 21-12. Game two proved to me much tighter with the Indonesians matching the Danes point for point and at 18-18 the match was still on a knife edge.
Conrad and Kolding held their nerve to get the set and the match over the line and with two wins from two and not a set dropped the Danes are now assured of a semi-final spot and appear to be in the form for a big pay day come Sunday.
Fischer & Pedersen down Olympic Champions
Joachim Fischer & Christinna Pedersen (pictured above) assured their spot in the semi-finals of the mixed doubles after ending the tournament of Olympic Champions Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir. The Indonesians have been completely out of form this week and a pair of losses sees them bow out in the group stages.
The Danes go on to a top of the group clash against Jordan & Susanto with the winners guaranteed top spot in the group and runners up safe in the knowledge that with two wins under their belt they also qualify for the semi-finals.
Chris & Gabby Adcock have left themselves with a mountain to climb after a group loss today to Zheng Siwei & Chen Qingchen. The English defending champions will now need to beat Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong of China tomorrow to maintain the dream of back to back Dubai titles.
In the women’s doubles Christinna Pedersen and Camilla Rytter Juhl suffered their first defeat losing out Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan. That defeat means the Danes now need to beat Jung and Shin of Korea tomorrow to keep their semi-final dream alive.
Jorgensen in cruise control as Axelsen slips up
Jan O Jorgensen continued from where he left off yesterday taking his second win of the group stages to guarantee his semi-final berth. Marc Zwiebler bowed out of the tournament losing out to Jorgensen and the Dane now assumes the mantle as the favourite for the big pay day on Sunday.
In group B Son Wan Ho assumed control with his second win beating Viktor Axelsen (pictured above) in a tight three setter. Lee Chong Wei managed to take down Ng Ka Long Angus to consign the Hong Kong player to an early flight home while the Malaysian super star will now have a winner take all match against Axelsen to see who will join the Korean in the semi-finals.
Carolina Marin suffered her second defeat in two days to end European involvement in the women’s singles. The Olympic and World Champion battled hard against Japans Akane Yamaguchi but there was not enough in the tank for the Spaniard leaving tomorrow’s match versus Olympic silver medallist Sindhu Pusarla with nothing to play for other than bragging rights for Marin.
For all results from today’s play at Dubai World Super Series Finals click
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Article by Mark Phelan Images courtesy of Badminton Photo