Going into the Olympic tournament, there was only one thing on Carolina Marin’s mind; O-R-O (G-O-L-D). With two World Championship titles already, she has been rewarded with the 1st seeding, and the match yesterday against Sung Ji Hyun [7] was her first upon winning Group A.
Watching the first semi-final of the Women’s singles, could make one wonder if the TV was on fast-forward. The Spaniard seemed to be getting everything back to her Korean opponent, and with an incredible speed. 12 points was all for Sung before Marin with her iconic scream could secure the first set.
In the second set, Marin got off to a great start, playing completely without errors she was quickly leading 8/0. The mid-set score ended 11/2 and it seemed like nothing could slow the Spaniard down. But Sung got her play to work and put up a fight to stay in the match. 15/9 becomes 16/12 and the Korean gets closer and closer.
With only two points between them, and a greater amount of unforced errors from Marin, seemed to might have done the trick for Sung. But then it was like the reigning world champion decided to shake it off. More determined and focused than ever, she continued to play in fast-forward all the way to 21, only interrupted a few times on the way.
There was not much to be done for Sung, the Spaniard’s head start was too hard to catch up with and everyone in Riocentro heard her roar; Marin is ready for the semis with the score 21/16 in the second set.
Women’s singles semi-finals will be conducted tomorrow Thursday 17, where Carolina Marin, as the only European through, will be up against LI Xuerui [3] of China.
The other semi-final will be between Nozomi Okuhara [6] (JPN) and Pusarla V. Sindhu [9] (IND).