Euro Individuals – No raw ‘Diehl’ for Ella

Images, Video and Text by Mark Phelan (Live in Manchester)

The Russian number one and number 6 seed for the tournament took 1 hour and six minutes to see off the hard-hitting challenge from Davies.

In the first set, Diehl (pictured) was always off the pace and displayed little of the form that took her to the Swiss Open Super Series finals last month. Davies took the set 21-16 to leave the Russian number one with a mountain to climb.

But, everyone in badminton knows that Ella Diehl can never be written off as her mental attitude is probably second to none and the number 6 seed bounced back with a 21-16 win in the second.

Diehl, who by the third set had found her mental game face, roared clear of Davies as the English player struggled to match the pace set by the Russian world number 18. Diehl completed controlled the latter exchanges and ran a tired looking Davies ragged to take the match with a 21-11 victory in the deciding rubber.

The Germany-based Russian now advances to play number 4 seed Yao Jie of The Netherlands in tomorrow’s quarter-final.

Listen to Diehl’s exclusive interview with Badzine below as she candidly tells the story of her round two victory: