FRENCH OPEN 2014 QF – Chou scores again

Taiwan’s Chou Tien Chen brought his game to a higher level, reaching his first ever Superseries semi-final after a clever match against Viktor Axelsen. Thailand’s superstar Ratchanok Intanon is slowly finding her form back after recent relatively poor performances, beating Japan’s new star Akane Yamaguchi.

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

An extremely delighted Chou Tien Chen (photo) left the court number two, after a splendid win against Viktor Axelsen (photo) that allowed him to reach his first ever Superseries semi-final.  However, it didn’t goes the Taiwan player’s way at first, as Axelsen put the pace up from the beginning, quickly commanding the rallies and taking the opening game 21-12.  A fierce fight commenced in the second game with Chou quickly coming up with solutions to counter-attack the tall Dane.

“In the middle of the second game, I started to speed up my game and get on the attack. I tried to push him as much as possible,” said Chou.

A line judging disagreement at the end of the second game gave a game point to Chou, who concluded it 21-18, leaving the outcome of the match to a decider. Keeping it up with the great run, Chou Tien Chen didn’t hand back the captain hat he had been wearing.

“I changed my strategy in the rubber and I think this is what made me win,” analyzed Chou.

With the frustration on the Danish side, Viktor Axelsen, as well as being more vociferous, slowly came back into the game, being very cautious with his shots.  Despite the Dane’s effort, the two-time Bitburger Open champion kept the same fast pace, committing no mistakes and rushed toward a first victory over Viktor Axelsen in three encounters.

“If I don’t give my absolute best, I will of course get problems with players like Chou.  He played really well today and I couldn’t find my best level today, like I did yesterday against Ueda,” admitted Viktor after his match.

Chou Tien Chen, in complete disbelief after his win, will now get another tough hurdle in the name of Tommy Sugiarto (photo) who defeated Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in three tough games.

Thai superstar Ratchanok Intanon, publicly announced she was back into world class business, grabbing her semi-final ticket after an exhausting match against Japan’s rising star Akane Yamaguchi. Despite a slow start, where she saw the Japanese youngster take a quick lead, Ratchanok Intanon displayed her impressive deceptive shots and great skills and found adapted replies to Yamaguchi’s great retrieving work.

“I started to get a bit nervous and lost the control of the match, but I knew that it might not be good for me to play fast because she’s very good at moving around the court, so I played slowly,” said Ratchanok Intanon (photo).

There was a little scare after the former World Champion called the tournament doctor for her knee, but Ratchanok walked back on court after her quick treatment.

“At first, when I fell, it hurt quite a lot so I thought about giving up but when the doctor came, he put some spray on my knee and I just tried my best to finish the match,” explained the Thai player. “It should be fine tomorrow, probably some ice on it today and I should be ready for tomorrow’s match.”

Winning by a 22-20, 21-17 scoreline, allowed Intanon to join Li Xuerui in the semis, a player she last beat in the final of the 2013 World Championships but who has beaten the Thai twice since.

Click here for complete quarter-final results