DENMARK OPEN 2013 SF – Boe and Mogensen left to rue missed opportunities

The home nation got off to the best of starts on semi-final day at Yonex Denmark Open with a three-game victory for Rytter Juhl & Pedersen. That was to be as good as it got for the home nation as Pedersen failed in her mixed semi-final while Boe & Mogensen looked off-colour going down in two games to Lee Yong Dae & Yoo Yeon Seong.

By Mark Phelan, live in Odense. Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

The world number 3 men’s doubles pair from Denmark were very familiar with each of their quarter-final opponents from different pairings in the past. Lee Yong Dae, in particular, has been a staunch adversary of the Danes over the past years and once again today the Korean superstar proved to be a thorn in the Danish side as Boe and Mogensen became frustrated with the resolute Korean defence.

The Danes had the support of a full house behind them this afternoon and got off to a magical start leading 11-5 in the opening game.  It all went rapidly downhill from there for the Danish pair as the Koreans drew level at 14-14.

“We started really well but the made some silly mistakes and let them back into the game which gave them belief and confidence,” said Boe about the opening game.

The game was still finely balanced at 18-18 but a series of mistakes from the Danes handed the game to the Koreans, who could hardly believe their luck when they secured the game on a point where the umpire called a fault, which he later apologized for.  Boe’s protests that the point should be replayed because the fault call had come before his final error were rejected.

A deflated Boe & Mogensen (photo)  came out for the second game and with the momentum on their side the Koreans cruised home with a 21-13 victory in the second game.

“We were poor today, just very very poor. We don’t play to lose and third place is no real consolation for us and especially for me in my home town,” said a disappointed Mathias Boe.

Chinese women’s doubles looking to go back to back

The new Chinese women’s doubles pairing of Tang Jinhua and Bao Yixin look to be a real prospect for China moving forward as they attempt to add the Denmark Open to the Dutch Open they won in Almere last weekend.

The Chinese have progressed under the radar through the tournament and have shown a distinct will to win after coming back from a game down on two occasions this week to deservedly take their place in tomorrow’s final.

Today’s quarter-final against third seeds Matsutomo and Takahashi became a real battle of courage. The Japanese focused the majority of their attack on the younger Chinese Bao Yixin but could not break her as the Chinese took the match 21-15 in the deciding game.

Dream final becomes a reality in both singles events

Chen Long was first to book his spot in the men’s singles final and in the last match of the day Lee Chong Wei (photo) had to come back from a game down for the second match running in his defence of his Denmark Open crown.

“I knew after losing the opening game that getting many points at the start of the second was crucial. I did this and I think he seemed to give up,” said the world number 1, speaking of his opponent Du Pengyu.

In the women’s singles, Wang Yihan (photo) halted the comeback of World Champion Ratchanok Intanon to book a final spot against Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun.

“After some months off through injury, I knew to win here would be tough but I am reasonably happy reaching the semi-final here this week,” said Intanon after her semi-final defeat.

Sung Ji Hyun had a relatively easy second game against arch-rival Wang Shixian and became the first Korean in 26 years to reach the Denmark Open women’s singles final.  This event was the first European event ever to see Korean participation and Sung’s mother was part of that tiny contingent that played her in 1981, but both of her parents succeeded in reaching Denmark Open finals in 1985.

Live finals coverage starts at 12:30PM tomorrow on BWF’s YouTube streaming channel.

Finals line-up
MD: Mohammad Ahsan / Hendra Setiawan (INA) [1] vs. Lee Yong Dae / Yoo Yeon Seong (KOR) [8]
WS: Wang Yihan (CHN) [5] vs. Sung Ji Hyun (KOR) [6]
XD: Zhang Nan / Zhao Yunlei (CHN) [1] vs. Tontowi Ahmad / Lilyana Natsir (INA) [3]
WD: Christinna Pedersen / Kamilla Rytter Juhl (DEN) [2] vs. Bao Yixin / Tang Jinhua (CHN)
MS: Lee Chong Wei (MAS) [1] vs. Chen Long (CHN) [2]

Click here for complete semi-final results from Odense