European Series tournaments,October 2018

[sameerph]

3 tournaments are taking place in Europe which started with Dutch open last week followed by Denmark Open this week and then French open next week.

Last week Saurabh Verma did well to win the title in Netherlands.

These are his match scores from last week -

At Yonex Dutch Open (BWF Super 100)

[R1] Sourabh VERMA (IND,62) d. Henri AARNIO (HIN,101) 21-16 21-10
[R2] Sourabh VERMA (IND,62) d. Dimitar YANAKIEV (BUL,253) 21-15 21-12
[R3] Sourabh VERMA (IND,62) d. Niluka KARUNARATNE (SRI,103) 21-9 21-16
[QF] Sourabh VERMA (IND,62) d.Thomas ROUXEL (FRA,68) 21-16 16-21 21-17
[SF] Sourabh VERMA (IND,62) d. (1) Mark CALJOUW (NED,33) 21-18 21-19

[F] Sourabh VERMA (IND,62) d. CHEAM June Wei (MAD,93) 21-19 21-13

Good performance by Sourabh to win his second BWF super 100 tournament for the year.

This week our higher ranked players play in Denmark open super 750 tournament.

[jaydeep]

A disappointing loss of Sindhu against Zhang in three games ... Saina scored an hard fought win over Cheung ... In the third game, Saina saved 2 match points and converted her second match point ... Next, she is facing WR #2 Yamaguchi.

At $775K DANISA Denmark Open 2018, Odense (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[R1] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) l Beiwen Zhang (USA,10) 17-21 21-16 18-21
[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt Ngan Yi Cheung (HKG,24) 20-22 21-17 24-22

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) vs (2) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2)

[jaydeep]

Sameer scored an excellent straight games win over WR #2 Chinese Yuqi Shi ... This was his first win over Yuqi after two losses ... Next, he is facing in-form Indonesian Jonatan Christie.

At $775K DANISA Denmark Open 2018, Odense (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[R1] Sameer Verma (IND,23) bt (3) Yuqi Shi (CHN,2) 21-17 21-18

[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,23) vs Jonatan Christie (INA,13)

[sameerph]

Excellent upset win by Sameer Verma but otherwise average results.

These are the remaining first round results -

At $775K DANISA Denmark Open 2018, Odense (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[R1] (7) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) d. Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus (DEN,27) 21-16 21-10
[R1] B. Sai Praneeth (IND,26) l. Huang Yuxiang (CHN,34) 21-12 14-21 15-21

[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) l Kim Astrup (DEN)/ Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (DEN) 23-25 21-18 16-21
[R1] Jakkampudi Meghana (IND)/ Poorvisha S Ram (IND) l Emma Karlsson (SWE)/ Johanna Magnusson (SWE) 17-21 11-21
[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Seung Jae Seo (KOR)/ Yujung Chae (KOR) 17-21 18-21
[R1] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) d. Ariel Lee (USA)/ Sydney Lee (USA) 21-7 21-11

[sameerph]

Tomorrow for us -

[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,23) vs Jonatan Christie (INA,13)
[R2] (7) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) vs Lin Dan (CHN,14)

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) vs (2) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2)

[R2] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) vs (7) So Hee Lee (KOR)/ Seung Chan Shin (KOR)

All tough matches.

[sameerph]

Excellent win by Saina over world #2 Japanese Yamguchi. This was a big win for Saina as it was her first win over Yamaguchi after 6 straight losses and her only win against her was 6 years back.

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) d. (2) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2) 21-15 21-17

She will meet another Japanese next .

[QF] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) vs. (8) Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,7)

Against Okuhara has a better career record of 6-4 but has lost the last 3 matches against her including the last one a few days back at Korea open where she squandered 4 match points in the third game.

[jaydeep]

Upsets continue ...
Sameer scored a hard fought win over in-form Jonatan Christie in 70 mins ... In the first game, both players were neck to neck before Sameer took 19-16 lead ... Christie won next 4 points for 19-20 lead, Sameer saved this game point and converted the second for winning this game ... Sameer didn't try much in the second game and lost lopsidedly ... In the third game, from 3-8 down he started his fightback ... He won 7 points in a row to take 15-10 lead from 8-10 down ... Christie caught him at 15-all, Sameer had 3 match points at 20-17 but Christie saved all those ... Sameer converted the 4th for a fighting win ... Waiting for a winner between Srikanth and Lin Dan.

After a longtime Ashwini and Sikki scored the top-10 win, they scored a comeback win over WR #7 Korean pair ... Ashwini and Sikki matched the Koreans in this match ... In the first game also they were neck to neck with the Koreans and were leading 3 points in the middle of the game ... The Koreans took lead in the from 16-all and kept that advantage for winning it ... In the second game, Ashwini and Sikki took an early lead but the Koreans caught them at 18-all from 18-15 down ... Our pair kept their nerve and converted the 2nd game point to take the match into decider ... In the final game, from 3-6 down our pair opened 9-6 lead and our pair kept that till end of the game ... The Koreans came close at 19-18 but Ashwini and Sikki won next 2 points for completing win in 61 mins ... Next, they r facing WR #1 Japanese pair.

At $775K DANISA Denmark Open 2018, Odense (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,23) bt Jonatan Christie (INA,13) 23-21 6-21 22-20

[R2] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) bt (7) So Hee Lee (KOR)/ Seung Chan Shin (KOR) 18-21 22-20 21-18

[QF] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) vs (1) Yuki Fukushima (JPN)/ Sayaka Hirota (JPN)

[arjun2761]

Nice upsets by Saina and Sameer! Hopefully, Srikanth can take down the ageing legend and continue our strong performances....

[arjun2761]

[R2] (7) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) d Lin Dan (CHN,14) 18-21, 21-17, 21-16


[QF] Kidambi Srikanth [IND, 6] v. Sameer Verma {IND, 23]

Nice win by Srikanth in a tournament in which he is the defending champion. May the best man win in the QF!

[sameerph]

Excellent day for us yesterday with 4 out 4 wins and 3 of those 4 wins came against higher ranked players/pairs and the fourth one came against a legend although ranked lower at this point of time. I wish Sri and Sameer were not meeting each other in QF. Both seem to have run into good form this week.

[SaniaFan]

Srikanth won against Sameer. Saina won against Okuhara. Lets see if Ashwini and Sikki can also win theirs against top seeds and top ranked pair from Japan.

[SaniaFan]

BTW who is the doubles coach? Have we hired another foreign coach?

[sameerph]

As I understand, we have Malyasian Tan Kim as doubles coach for last couple of years. I do not know if any other foreign coach has been hired.

Another excellent win for Saina. One of the best weeks on the tour for her in long time. Srikanth won a long and close match against Sameer.

[QF] (7) Kidambi Srikanth (IND, 6) d. Sameer Verma (IND, 23) 22-20 19-21 23-21

[QF] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) d. (8) Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,7) 17-21 21-16 21-12

[QF] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l. (1) Yuki Fukushima (JPN)/ Sayaka Hirota (JPN) 14-21 12-21

Next,

[SF] (7) Kidambi Srikanth (IND, 6) vs. (2) Kento Momota (JPN,1)

[SF] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) vs. Grogria Mariska Tanjug (INA,19)

Very tough for Srikanth. Momota has been in a phenomenal form this year with a world championship title and a very few losses. Saina looks to have a great chance to reach the final.

[sameerph]

Srikanth could not challenge in-form world #1 but Saina easily won her SF.

At $775K DANISA Denmark Open 2018, Odense (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[SF] (7) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) l. (2) Kento Momota (JPN,1) 16-21 12-21

[SF] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) d. Grogria Mariska Tanjug (INA,19) 21-11 21-12

Probably the first final for Saina at this level in a while. But, she faces real test in the final against Tai against whom she has lost last 10 matches and has now win since 2013. Another mountain to climb.

[F] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) vs. (1) Tai Tzu Ying (TPE,1)

[kaustav]

She will do it this time ...