CANADA OPEN 2018 – 1st doubles double for Ellis

Marcus Ellis became the first English player in nearly 13 years to win a doubles double at a major badminton tournament, taking two at the 2018 Canada Open.

By Don Hearn.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (archives)

Winning multiple titles in a single day used to be routine for the top players in England.   Not just at mid-level tournaments but even at the All England.   In fact, back when it was the unofficial world championship in the sport of badminton, no fewer than five different English players won all three titles – singles, doubles, and mixed – in a single edition, the last time being 1976, when the great Gillian Gilks accomplished the feat.

Naturally, those days of All England triple crowns are long gone, with the breadth of today’s international field and the natural trend toward specialization.  Still, the doubles double is not an uncommon sight, at least in the middle tier of tournaments such as the Super 300 and Super 100, the rebranded versions of the erstwhile Grand Prix Gold and Grand Prix respectively.  Still, the last time an English player won two titles in one day at a major badminton event was back in 2005, before the Superseries came into being and the Grand Prix Gold was peeled off to leave the core Grand Prix.  Anthony Clark was in his heyday then and he won men’s and mixed doubles at the richest ever edition of the Greek International, the Thessaloniki World Grand Prix.  Although Clark continued to do well in both events, even reaching both finals at the World Championships the following year, it was not until Sunday that another English player added his name to the list.

Actually, Marcus Ellis (pictured above) helped spoil German plans for the far rarer mixed triple, as both Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich were involved in two finals.  The men’s doubles, which opened the afternoon, was a hard-fought affair, with Lamsfuss and Marvin Emil Seidel taking the first game, before letting the second slip away and finding themselves unable to convert 3 match points in the decider.  Ellis and Chris Langridge took the last five points in succession to take the men’s doubles title for England for the second straight year in Calgary.

Nor would German fortunes improve as the afternoon wore on.  Herttrich and Nelte ceded victory to Ayako Sakuramoto / Yukiko Takahata (pictured bottom) in straight games.  The Japanese pair thus took their fourth major title of the year, adding the Canada Open Super 100 to the three Super 300 titles they had already amassed.  This should shoot them up firmly into the top 5 of the BWF World Tour standings, although they have a disadvantage in that their status on the Japanese national team has so far prevented them from being entered in the top-level events.  Next month’s Singapore Open will be their first Super 500 event this year.

The final match of the day left no doubt that this was indeed Marcus Ellis’s day, and that it was not for German doubles.  Ellis and Lauren Smith won the second game of the mixed doubles final by a devastating 21-4 scoreline.  It was a complete reversal for Lamsfuss and Herttrich, who had not lost a game all week.

Both singles events went to China, whose shuttlers added to their totals for the year.  Lu Guanzu beat Japan’s Minoru Koga to add the Canadian title to the Super 300 honours he’d taken at the Australian Open.  Meanwhile, Li Xuerui (pictured) needed three games to deny Sayaka Takahashi and ensure that it was she herself who would collect a third title in 2018.  Takahashi has won Super 300 events in Switzerland and New Zealand, while Li won her first Super 300 last weekend at the U.S. Open but adds the Canada Open to the Super 100 title she already had from the Lingshui China Masters.

Final results
MD:  Marcus Ellis / Chris Langridge (ENG) [1] beat Mark Lamsfuss / Marvin Emil Seidel (GER) [2]  19-21, 21-18, 22-20
WD:  Ayako Sakuramoto / Yukiko Takahata (JPN) [1] beat Isabel Herttrich / Carla Nelte (GER)  21-13, 21-15
MS:  Lu Guangzu (CHN) beat Minoru Koga (JPN)  21-15, 21-10
WS:  Li Xuerui (CHN) beat Sayaka Takahashi (JPN) [2]  22-20, 15-21, 21-17
XD:  Marcus Ellis / Lauren Smith (ENG) [1] beat Mark Lamsfuss / Isabel Herttrich (GER) [2]  21-13, 21-4

Click here for complete results