European Series tournaments,October 2018

[jaydeep]

Yes, what a day for the Indian doubles ... Our two pairs scored impressive wins over higher ranked Chinese pairs ... Manu and Sumeeth scored a huge win over the WR #5 Chinese pair, Liu and Zhang, in straight games ... Also, Satwik and Chirag defeated WR #16 Chinese pair in straight games to book the quarter-final match against fellow countrymen ... Our both pairs won their matches inside 40 minutes.

At $750K YONEX French Open 2018, Paris, France (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[R2] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) bt Dong Keun Lee (KOR,29) 12-21 21-16 21-18
[R2] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,26) l Jonatan Christie (INA,13) 16-21 14-21

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt (8) Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,7) 10-21 21-14 21-17
[R2] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) bt Sayaka Sato (JPN,17) 21-17 21-16

[R2] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) bt (3) Cheng Liu (CHN)/ Nan Zhang (CHN) 21-14 21-16
[R2] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) bt Jiting He (CHN)/ Qiang TAN (CHN) 21-13 21-19

[R2] Jakkampudi Meghana (IND)/ Poorvisha S Ram (IND) l (4) Greysia Polii (INA)/ Apriyani Rahayu (INA) 15-21 13-21

[QF] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) vs (1) Kento Momota (JPN,1)

[QF] Saina Nehwal (IND,9) vs (1) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,1)
[QF] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) vs (7) Bingjiao He (CHN,7)

[QF] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) vs Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND)

[sameerph]

Very unlikely either Srikanth or Saina will win.

In a major upset, Manu and Sumeeth beat the 3rd seeded Chinese pair in straights. And we will have an Indian QF in doubles at a BWF750 event!

Two weeks in a row where one of our doubles pairs has outperformed, sounds like something changed on the coaching side.

Manu-Sumit are having a very good streak running from Asiad. They missed multiple match points against world champions there. Then, had wins over world # 12 and 14 pairs in subsequent pairs. But, this win over world # 5 is a great win for them.

On current form, I would favour them over Satwik-Chirag in QF. But, great to see 2 Indian pairs playing each other in QF at BWF 750 tournament.

[kaustav]

From 16-9 and 20-16 she lost the first game 20-22

[arjun2761]

Early results

[QF] Saina Nehwal (IND,9) l (1) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,1) 20-22, 11-21


[QF] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) l Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) 17-21, 11-21

[Sin Hombre]

Bad defeats for everyone.

[SaniaFan]

I think only Sindhu's loss was bad. Saina's was expected but painful considering she was 20-16 up in the first game. In doubles both results were possible.
Saina lost a game from similar position to Okuhara couple of weeks back. Since then she has defeated her twice in tight games. Let's see if she can show similar self believe against Tai ji.

[sameerph]

These are the other results-

[QF] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) l (1) Kento Momota (JPN,1) 16-21 19-21

[QF] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) l (7) Bingjiao He (CHN,7) 13-21 16-21

So, only Satwik-Chirag left now playing their first BWF 750 semi final and they are up against top seeds next.

[SF] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) vs (1) Marcus Fernaldi Gideon (INA)/ Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (INA)

[suresh]

Nice to see our doubles pair alive when we are done with in singles.

[sameerph]

They lost in the final but a good fight particularly in the second game against world #1 pair.

[SF] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) l. (1) Marcus Fernaldi Gideon (INA)/ Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (INA) 12-21 24-26

I saw the match and Chirag was very good in defence and Satwik in attack. They were 2 points ahead most of the time in the second game but world #1 caught up in the end.

Anyway, great learning experience for them. I sense a breakthrough for them soon.

[arjun2761]

At the SaarLorLux Open tournament in Germany (a Super 100 tournament) an amazing win by Subhankar Dey over the top seed

[R3/PQF] Subhankar Dey [IND, 66] d Lin Dan [CHN, 12] 22-20, 21-19
[R3/PQF] P. Kashyap [IND, 58 ] d A. Roovers[GER, 85 ] 21-14, 21-12

[arjun2761]

At the SaarLorLux Open tournament in Germany (a Super 100 tournament), Subhankar Dey continues his run.

[QF] Subhankar Dey [IND, 64] d T. Penty [ENG, 43] 21-16, 21-9
[QF] P. Kashyap [IND, 59] l T. Popov (FRA, 61) 16-21, 18-21

[sameerph]

Subhankar continues his excellent run.

At SaarLorLux Open, Saarbrucken, Germany (BWF super 100)

[SF] Subhankar Dey (IND,64) d. Ren Pengbo (CHN,208) 21-18 11-21 24-22

This is another good win as these lower ranked Chinese are usually much better than their ranking.

Next,

[F] Subhankar Dey (IND,64) vs. (5) Rajiv Ouseph (GBR,37)

[sameerph]

And Subhankar Dey goes on an wins his first BWF super 100 title.

At SaarLorLux Open, Saarbrucken, Germany (BWF super 100)

[F] Subhankar Dey (IND,64) d. (5) Rajiv Ouseph (GBR,37) 21-11 21-14

Good dominating win in the final over a good player and with that he made sure he did not waste the upset of Lin Dan earlier this week. Good to see a new name emerging on the mens side. We have had same 4-5 players in top 50 for last 3 years or so.

[arjun2761]

Very solid and consistent performance by Subhanker to win this tournament with a win over the ageing legend Lin Dan along the way. He is 25 years old, so isn't very young but hopefully is a late bloomer...

[suresh]

Congratulations to Subhankar.