FRENCH OPEN 2015 SF – Vamos!

Carolina Marin’s tactical game worked wonder in a highly demanding encounter against Taiwan’s leading player Tai Tzu Ying. The Spaniard jewel beautifully displayed her excellent physical and mental abilities to clinch a first spot in the Yonex French Open Superseries final.

By Tarek Hafi, Badzine Correspondent live in Paris.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

A women’s singles delight was awarded to the active French crowd, with a very elite line-up, composed of the world #1 Carolina Marin and the BWF Superseries Finals hero Tai Tzu Ying.

The two word-class players inaugurated the match evolving on the same level, displaying some great tactics and high techniques throughout the first half of their semi-final match. While Tai Tzu Ying decided to target Marin’s backhand, the Spaniard used her great movement and speed to outmanoeuvre the Taiwan player.

Tensed to its paroxysm, the World #1 succeeded in grabbing the first game, but only after spending most of the game with Tai nipping at her heels.  From the last tie, at 17-all, though, Marin promptly rushed to the finish and held onto the first game 21-17.

Certain to witness a one-way second game for the World Champion, Tai Tzu Ying proved that the bigger the gap is, the more her motivation grows.  Despite trailing far behind, at 2-11, she gave chase and caught her opponent at 16-all. However her will to prevail was still not sufficient to change her fate as Carolina Marin conquered the net area in the last part of the game, allowing her the last needed push to come out victorious on the day.

“It was a very important match for me since Tai is a very difficult player to play with but I am very delighted with the way I played. I changed few things in my game before coming here and I’m happy to see it is working great so far!” said Marin during her post-match interview.

Europe’s current badminton heroine also admitted to being in great physical condition, and claimed to be fully ready for her first final in Paris: “I feel really great here. I am having great sensations so far and hopefully the French crowd will still be behind me tomorrow for my final match.  Now I just need to continue to work on my concentration and keep having good training.”

Meanwhile on the following match Denmark’s very own “Mads Men”, Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding, pulled out an incredible performance to defeat the current World Champions Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan in a captivating three-game match. After a tasteful win against their compatriots Boe and Mogensen, the defending champions, the pair went on another rampage to dismiss the Indonesians, who were also among the favourites to win the title.

Very offensive from the beginning, the Danes managed to take a short lead in the first game but the world #2 looked keen to take their first title in Paris and showed their skill full repertoire with Hendra Setiawan being very efficient at the net, as usual. In the end, though, it was not enough for the Indonesian combination, as the Danes chose a very safe game to be sure of crossing the finish line first.

“Everybody in the top of the world is competing here, now we have beaten the number three and two and are really proud of that,” said a delighted Mads Conrad-Petersen after his match.

Two tough matches in a row doesn’t seem to bring down the brave Danes, who are eager for more here in Paris: “Like yesterday, we kept telling each other the goal is not to win but to play our best game, and if we do that we have a chance and that kept us in in the match,” added Conrad-Petersen.

“To win, I will give everything.  To have been able to do that today against players that we respect a lot…but for tomorrow we don’t know who we will be playing, but Lee and Yoo are in form, they won three Superseries in a row, it will be good if we ruin than record tomorrow!” concluded the towering Mads Pieler Kolding.

Finals line-up
XD: Ko Sung Hyun / Kim Ha Na (KOR) [7] vs. Praveen Jordan / Debby Susanto (INA)
MS: Chou Tien Chen (TPE) [6] vs. Lee Chong Wei (MAS)
WD: Luo Ying / Luo Yu (CHN) [2] vs. Huang Yaqiong / Tang Jinhua (CHN)
WS: Carolina Marin (ESP) [2] vs. Wang Shixian (CHN) [4]
MD: Lee Yong Dae / Yoo Yeon Seong (KOR) [1] vs. Mads Conrad-Petersen / Mads Pieler Kolding (DEN)

Click here for complete semi-final results