CANADA OPEN 2010 QF – Anna Says Goodbye, Top Seeds Go Through

Canada came up short on quarter-finals day at the 2010 Yonex Canada Open Grand Prix while Chinese Taipei, Korea and Germany ended the day with at least three semi-finalists each, including two appearances each for Lee Sheng Mu, Cheng Wen Hsing, Chien Yu Chin, and Shin Baek Cheol.

Story and Photos: Yves Lacroix, live in Richmond for Badzine and BadmintonPhoto

Local favourite Anna Rice (pictured) might not have succeeded in advancing to the semi-finals but nevertheless gave the Friday night crowd on hand in Richmond quite a show. The Canadian shuttler started strong and seemed on her way to an easy victory against the Korea Open semi-finalist Kim Moon Hi. The tall Asian simply could not control the shuttle and was caught off-balance on several occasions by Rice’s jumping smashes and drops as Kim went down tamely 9-21 in the first game. However, Kim gradually adjusted her game to the hall conditions and slowly put an end to Anna’s wonderful run in her hometown Grand Prix by beating the Canadian 21-15 and 21-10 in the second and third.

All eyes might have been on superstar Taufik Hidayat in his easy match against Christian Lind Thomsen of Denmark – as the former world and Olympic champion elicited plenty of ooh‘s and aah‘s with his uncanny backhand smashes and overall precise game – but men’s singles was also the scene of two huge fights which saw German Dieter Domke and Dane Rune Ulsing (pictured) win exhausting three game matches against their Asian opponents. Poor Brice Leverdez of France had his shares of falls and dives against countryman Simon Maunoury but finally prevailed 21-12, 22-20.

A very relaxed Zhu Lin – who seemed to take genuine fun in interacting with fans before and after her matches – will honour her now unofficial first seed status due to her win against German Nicole Grether. Europeans Judith Meulendijks and Juliane Schenk will complete the semi-final roster.

Charmaine Reid, the only other Canadian player still alive at the Canada Open did not manage to compensate Rice’s loss and went down with partner Nicole Grether against the latter’s compatriots Marinello and Overzier. Second seeds and winners of the Singapore Super Series Shinta Mulia Sari and Yao Lei were obviously not in top form – partly due to jetlag – and went down to unseeded Eom Hye Won and Kim Ha Na of Korea. Eom, who turns 19 in September, thus became the youngest semi-finalist for Saturday’s lineup.

After their respective wins in their mixed doubles matches, Chien Yu Chin and Cheng Wen Hsing (pictured) of Chinese Taipei then teamed up and barely broke a sweat against Herzig and Jaquet of Switzerland. Unkown Eto and Wakita – who play for the Tricky Panders [sic] corporate team – outsmashed Iris and Rena Wang, the USA team’s ever-smiling sisters.

The last event on show all provided easy wins for their victors with in-form Fang Chieh Min and Lee Sheng Mu outsmashing their opponents. Things looked temporarily ugly when the Taiwanese smashed straight in the face of Fuchs but no real harm seemed done.

Singapore’s Hendri Kurniawan Saputra made up for his sister Shinta’s loss with humungous smashes whilst he and partner Triyachart disposed of other Germans Kindervater and Schoettler.

Under the increasing darkness of the hall due to the sun’s increasingly weaker rays piercing through the Richmond Oval’s huge windows, the crowd of die-hard fans who stayed on to watch the last match of the day between first seeds Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan (pictured) and Englishmen Andrew Ellis and Chris Langridge enjoyed every rally of the 21-17, 21-13 American win.