DENMARK OPEN 2014 R32 – Vittinghus out, Lin Dan gets a scare

World-class badminton returned to Denmark for the first time since the World Championships with a Chinese squad looking to build on their three world titles won in Copenhagen in August, with Lin Dan advancing in pain. Local shuttler Hans-Kristian Vittinghus didn’t break the spell as he was once again ousted in the first round of his home event.

By Eddie Smith. Photos: Yohan Nonotte for Badmintonphoto (live from Odense)

With Lee Chong Wei not taking part this week, the two main non-European stars – Lin Dan (photo, header) and current world champion Chen Long will be the ones to watch this week.  One of the most anticipated matches of the day saw Odense’s own Viktor Axelsen (photo) taking on Chen Long in the round of 32 but the 45-minute encounter was never really a contest in the most one-sided of their three matches to date with the world champion winning 21-17, 21-10.

The final match completed today saw the current Asian Games champion Lin Dan take on Chou Tien Chen, with the Chinese Taipei player enjoying his highest world ranking of his career at 12.  Their previous meeting four years ago was a one-sided victory for Super Dan, but that was not the case today. After taking the opening game 22-20, Chou levelled the match impressively – winning 21-10 in the second game but Lin Dan rallied to claim the match 21-18 and set up a mouth watering matchup against Jan O Jorgensen, who has beaten Lin Dan in their last two meetings.

The Danish crowd had plenty of ups and downs today, with Axelsen losing in the opening round and a surprise defeat of Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (photo) – losing in three games to Brice Leverdez of France. Vittinghus had been under the spotlight the past few days after he revealed he had been contacted by a bookie during the Japan Open.  This was maybe not the ideal way to prepare for an event he’s always struggled in, as the world #9 has lost in the first round of every one of his last 6 appearances. Two of Denmark’s bright hopes in the women’s singles also lost out in their opening matches, with Line Kjaersfeldt taking her highest ranking opponent Hsu Ya Ching to three games – whilst Anne Thea Madsen was comprehensively beaten by Liu Xin in just 26 minutes.

However, there was plenty to cheer about in the doubles events – where Boe and Mogensen produced Denmark’s first win of the day but will face a tougher task against their Chinese opponents of Liu and Kang in the round of 16. Anders Skaarup Rasmussen and Kim Astrup Sorensen (photo) produced a fine performance to defeat the Japanese pairing of Kamura and Sonoda, setting up a match against the top seeded Lee and Yoo tomorrow.

Christinna Pedersen made a successful start in Odense today, winning both her matches with Isabel Herttrich being on the receiving end in both the women’s and mixed doubles matches. The second seed in both events takes on Luo and Luo of China with Kamilla Rytter Juhl, whilst with Joachim Fischer Nielsen she takes on Kim and Kim of Korea.

The Commonwealth Games hangover continues as Kirsty Gilmour, Rajiv Ouseph, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa all lost today in opening round matches – joining the Adcock and Adcock (photo) partnership on the outside looking in, with the 5^th-seeded mixed doubles pairing losing their opening round match on Tuesday night. Only P. V. Sindhu and Parupalli Kashyap had any success today, both winning their singles matches in two games.

Play begins tomorrow at 11am local time, with Lin Dan taking on Jan O Jorgensen in the 12^th match on Court 1.

Wednesday’s Results HERE