KOREA OPEN 2011 QF – Baun misses by inches

Tine Baun (pictured) lost the battle of the returning champions today at the 2011 Victor Korea Open Premier Super Series.

By Don Hearn, Badzine Correspondent live in Seoul.  Photos: Yves Lacroix for Badmintonphoto

Tine Baun, who won the Korea Open in 2009 was stopped in the second round last year while her opponent of today managed to go all the way.  Today, the two former champions went head-to-head but, despite saving 5 match points against China’s Wang Shixian (pictured below), the Danish star found she could go no further than the quarter-finals, and will thus be denied badminton’s richest prize.

Tine dropped the first game but dominated the second and stayed close enough in the third to reel in Wang at the end again and again.  Wang earned a sixth match point at 23-22 when her drive hit the net cord and dribbled over, then Tine let the shuttle drop on the sideline to give the match to the Super Series Finals champion.

“I think at the end I felt confident by attacking,” said Tine afterward.  “I had my success with that but unfortunately I made some stupid errors in the wind.  There is a lot of side-wind in our court.

“Now I’ve met the best player in the Super Series right now.  I think she’s shown that by winning everything lately so I’m much more satisfied than with my performance last year.  Now I’m maybe a little disappointed but in the long run, it’s good.

“This year I have had good training sessions lately and after being ill at the Copenhagen Masters, and coming on since I have shown some good things but also I think I can be even better.

“I think I’m catching up.  With the Chinese players I feel better once I play them one or two times.  Everybody knows the tactics to use when they play me but there are so many of the Chinese and I have to prepare for any of them and they have different styles so I gain a lot of confidence when I play them more than once.”

Simon healthy and victorious

When Simon Santoso was last in Korea, in 2009, an illness prevented him from playing his semi-final against Peter Gade, who used the extra day to rest up for what is still his most recent victory over Lee Chong Wei and his most recent Korea Open title.  Today, he was good and healthy, though.  Good enough to beat Gade in two games, in fact.

“I lost against Peter Gade at the Singapore Open last year,” said Simon.  “But I have really prepared and today my strategy was enough to succeed in the match. It feels good to beat him.

“This year, I hope to get back into the top 10 or top 5 because I was injured for the World Championships and then had 3 months’ rest so now my ranking has dropped and I’d like to get it up to qualify for the Olympics.

“I don’t know if I can beat Lin Dan again but I’ll do my best.”

Denmark sends sure thing to semis

Men’s doubles pair Boe/Mogensen became the only one of Denmark’s three champions from 2009 and the only Danish players, period, to advance to the semi-finals in Seoul this week.  They beat compatriots Rasmussen/Conrad-Petersen in two games and will face fourth-seeded Ko/Yoo on Saturday afternoon.

For complete quarter-final results from the 2011 Victor Korea Open Premier Super Series, CLICK HERE

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