DUTCH OPEN 2012 QF – Orange wave over Almere

Top seeds Emelie Lennartsson / Emma Wengberg had to endure almost an hour of court play, clinging to every opportunity to remain alive in the competition.  But their unseeded Dutch opponents Samantha Barning / Eefje Muskens would not allow them to proceed any further in a day which was a good one for home shuttlers, who nabbed no fewer than 6 out of the 10 available semi-final spots.

By Emzi Regala, Badzine Correspondent. Photos: Arthur van der Velde (live from Almere)

Samantha Barning / Eefje Muskens (photo) were able to control the drift better than their opponents and easily took the first game 21-10.  The Swedes narrowly escaped elimination by winning the second game 23-21 to force a deciding game.  The Dutch duo re-affirmed their home court advantage in the 3^rd game 21-15 to book themselves a ticket to the semi-finals.

Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth’s quest for another double gold performance this year ended today when she and her women’s doubles partner Rizki Amelia Pradipta suffered defeat at the hands of Heather Olver / Kate Robertshaw (photo) in their quarter-finals match.  It was a seesaw battle in the first half of the first game until Olver/Robertshaw broke the 18-all deadlock and took the first game 21-19.  In the second game, the pair from England found their touch at the net and forced Bernadeth/Pradipta to lift the birdie and end up in a defensive formation. Olver/Robertshaw took the second game 21-17.  The English pair faces 3^rd seeds Selena Piek / Iris Tabeling in the semi-finals.

In the men’s doubles department, top seeds Moren/ Szkudlarczyk had no trouble dispatching their opposition from Germany, Jansen/Trisnanto.  The Polish pair did not waste time finishing their match in two games 21-17, 21-16. Moren/ Szkudlarczyk face Indonesia’s Chandra/Kido in the semi-finals.

A sluggish start for Malaysia’s Gan/Ong caused them to lose the first game 12-21 to their fellow Asian opponents Dasuki/Gunawan.  The Malaysians came back in the second game with a 21-17 win, before eventually grabbing the 3^rd and final game 21-18.  The Malaysians will go straight to the final as Poland’s Cwalina/Wacha (photo) will not be playing in the semi-finals.  No explanation was offered as to why.

Dutch power in singles

In the singles events, the home crowd will have something to cheer about on Saturday as no fewer than 4 shuttlers made it to the week-end stage and scooped well-deserved semi-final spots. In the women’s singles, Patty Stolzenbach continued her good run.  After beating top seed Yao Jie, she took care of Denmark’s Karina Jorgensen in three games while experienced Judith Meulendijks (photo) took just as much time to beat Ireland’s Chloe Magee. This means the only seeded player left in the draw is 3^rd seeded Kristina Gavnholt from Czech Republic who will play Stolzenbach, while the fourth guest is Switzerland’s Nicole Shaller.

If everything goes as planned, there could also be a 100% local final on Sunday in Almere in th men’s singles competition as both Eric Pang and Dicky Palyama are in the semis and facing different opponents: Dieter Domke for Pang, while Palyama was probably expecting to face Indonesia’s Tedjono again – as he did in the final of the Yonex Belgian Open – but instead will take on Danish rising star Emile Holst.

Click here for complete quarter-final results