DUTCH OPEN 2012 Day 3 – Yao bows, Patty parties

Defending champion Yao Jie did not have enough leg power to propel her further into competition at the 2012 Yonex Dutch Open.  The 35-year old veteran lost to her compatriot 23-year old Patty Stolzenbach,  (photo) 15-21 18-21.

By Emzi Regala, Badzine Correspondent. Photos: Arthur van der Velde (live from Almere)

Yao, who had earlier spoken about her future retirement, said after the match, “I couldn’t build up the patience and concentration.  My body is tired.”   She was overpowered by Stolzenbach, who displayed brilliant badminton and produced more smash winners that allowed her to take command of the court.

The men’s singles top seed Przemyslaw Wacha was sent home packing by England’s Michael Spencer-Smith 9-21-8-21 in two surprisingly quick games that took under 19 minutes to play altogether.  5^th seed Yuhan Tan suffered the same fate after he bowed down to Emil Holst of Denmark 11-21, 21-16, 18-21.

Scott Evans (photo) of Ireland, on the other hand, held his arms high up in the air in celebration after defeating Sweden’s pride Gabriel Ulldahl.  Evans had to work extra hard to overcome strong opposition from Ulldahl and it was his net play that gave him enough points to win in 3 games 12-21, 21-14, 21-17.

The most entertaining match of the day came from an all-Dutch encounter between Jorrit De Ruiter / Samantha Barning (photo) and Dave Khodabux / Selena Piek.  Neither team refusing to let go, the match had to be played for more than an hour in three thrilling games that ended with the scoreboard displaying a scorchingly close 25-27, 22-20, 22-20 in De Ruiter/Barning’s favour.

It continued to be an unfortunate week for #2 seeds.  After Ville Lang was unable to complete his match on Wednesday, Thursday’s action saw the second-seeded players in both women’s singles and men’s doubles exit with a retirement and walkover by Linda Zetchiri of Bulgaria and Denmark’s Christian John Skovgaard / Mads Pieler Kolding respectively.

Click here for complete Day 3 results

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