ALL ENGLAND 2015 QF – Defending champions made to work

Defending champions Ahmad and Natsir were pushed hard by home favourites the Adcocks but the Danes had another successful day, with Jorgensen, Conrad-Petersen/Pieler Kolding, Fischer Nielsen/Pedersen and Boe/Mogensen all through to the semis. Tai Tzu Ying also battled hard to set up a semi-final against World Champion Carolina Marin.

By Michael Burke, Badzine Correspondent, live from Birmingham.  Photos: Yohan Nonotte and Raphael Sachetat for Badmintonphoto (live).

Tai Tzu Ying (pictured left) beat Wang Shixian of China for the first time since 2013 for only her second victory ever against the Chinese opponent on the senior circuit.

“I was playing well but I lost the second game because at the change of ends there was a really funny drift and I could barely hit the shuttle in the right area, lots of frames. I kind of left the second game to focus on the third,” said Tai.

She continued, “We’ve played each other lots before so there are no secrets.  It’s all about mentality and stability with these games and I’m happy that I stayed calm throughout, even when it was close at the end.”

She was not the only one who had to focus however, as defending champions Tontowi Ahamad and Liliyana Natsir (pictured right) were pushed to the edge by England’s Chris and Gabby Adcock.

“The first game we played with no problems and it was comfortable, but we were not focussed on the last points in the second,” said Liliyana.

“It was hard to get back to the level of the first game as it was only single points either way, we need to focus better tomorrow.”

The close result was no consolation for the home favourites, with a strong crowd behind them.

“It’s good that we’re pushing the best pairs in the world. We are there; we just need that little bit more. For the really key points, she pulled out the perfect serve and little things like that make them the best pair in the world.”

Axelsen will also rue missed chances as he lost a close first game against Jan Ø. Jorgensen (pictured left) 22-24 only to fall away in the second.

He was rueful, saying “Everybody wants to win when they have the chance but I have to be realistic and accept that I didn’t play well enough to win against Jan today.”

It was not much different for Jan, playing against his compatriots. “We’re all competing against each other, it doesn’t matter whether you’re Danish, Chinese or Japanese, we all want to win.

“It might add a little intensity and is always awkward against your training partners but I still have to win.”

Carolina Marin (pictured right) reversed the result of last week’s German Open to beat Sung Ji Hyun in straight games. The match in Mulheim was notable for the two red cards given to her for unsporting conduct, but none of these frustrations returned today.

“I knew from the start that it was going to be a tough match but I just had to stick to my game plan,” said Marin.

Asked whether last week had affected her mentally this week, she said, “You should ask the umpire. I was angry with myself and just looking to clear my head and then the umpire, well the umpire was terrible.”

Another pair carrying form from the German Open is Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding (pictured left).

“We have amazing form. It was a tough game but we had a brilliant start, maybe we were too satisfied with that in the second but we pulled it together,” said an ecstatic Pieler Kolding

“This is our biggest career achievement.  We got to the semis in Hong Kong but this is the biggest Superseries on the circuit and all Danes love to win here,” added Conrad-Petersen

The full results for the day can be found here.