Jacco Arends and Selena Piek of The Netherlands
(main picture) showcased nerves of steel today as they clinched the most thrilling match of the World Championships so far. The world number 15 duo beat China's number six seeds Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong 18-21, 26-24, 23-21 to reach the quarter-finals. Piek and Arends will now play China's Xu Chen/Ma Chin for a place in the last four.
England’s Marcus Ellis’ and Chris Langridge’s fanatastic run at the World Championships continues as they beat Danish duo of Mads Kolding and Mads Conrad to progress to the quarter-finals. The Brits will now go on to face number three seeds Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia.
"It's a great feeling to get to Ellis and Langridge will play local favourites Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, Indonesia’s third seeds, for a place in the semi-finals.
"We led the whole way in the third set but they came back a little bit towards the end, yet we managed to hold our nerve to get the job done," added Ellis.
"The atmosphere for tomorrow's quarter final will be crazy against players with a home crowd behind them, but we'll enjoy every single minute."
World No. 1 Carolina Marin suffers injury scare
Title holder and current All-England Champion Carolina Marin survived a mighty scare, when she dropped the second game of her match against Taiwan's Pai Yu-po. The Spaniard, who rolled her ankle in the match, had to dug deep to take the match 21-11, 18-21, 21-17.
"I got a bit scared when I hurt my leg as the same thing happened at the last World Championships," she said. "I tried to keep it out of my mind. It wasn't my best game, but it's important to win even when you aren't playing well."
"I just tried to not think about my ankle, because I was so scared, because maybe I could not play," she told reporters after the match. "I have a physiotherapist here, so he is going to treat me now."
It was a case of history repeating itself for the Spaniard, who sustained an injury to the same ankle in last year`s World Championships in Copenhagen, which she sensationally went on to win.
All-England champions Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen cruised past Hashimoto/Hirata of Japan 21-14, 21-11 in just 35 minutes. Next up the Danes will face Liu Xiaolong/Qiu Zihan (CHN). Their compatriots and
fourth seed Kamilla Rytter-Juhl/Christinna Pedersen, winner of the German Open and Malaysian Masters this year, also made it safely through, beating Lee So Hee/Shin Seung Chan of Korea 21-11, 21-17.
Dream matchup in the men’s singles
European Champion Jan Ø. Jørgensen eased past his Korean opponent Son Wan Ho 21-19,21-11 in 41 minutes. And now we have the dream matchup in the men's singles quarter-final: No. 2 vs No. 5. Jan Ø. Jørgensen vs Lin Dan. These two met three times in the last two years and the Dane was able to win two of the matches. Both men looked phenomenal in their World Championships matches so far and have been in a great form all year long.
Last year’s bronze medalist Viktor Axelsen hasn't faced the toughest of competition so far in the tournament, but today he met a tough opponent. H.S. Prannoy of India pushed the young Dane to three games. After losing the control of the match in the second game, he eventually found his groove and dictated the pace of the match again, much like he has done in the first two rounds. Axelsen won 21-16, 19-21, 21-18 and will now face world number one shuttler Chen Long, who has a 4-0 career record against him.
The Adcocks join Ellis/Langridge in the quarters
The married mixed doubles pair Chris and Gabby Adcock beat Denmark's Mads Kolding and Kamilla Rytter Juhl in three games The Adcocks, currently ranked seventh in the world, beat the Danes 21-16 16-21 21-10 in 50 minutes. Chris, said: "It's fantastic to have two doubles pairs playing on quarter-final day - it shows great progression from the squad."
The Adcocks will now play China's Liu Cheng and Bao Yixin for a place in the last four.
Two-time Olympic champion and five-time world champion Lin Dan showed his excellent form against Denmark’s Vittinghus who was outplayed by the Chinese in two games 21-9, 21-13. Vittinghus later admitted on his official facebook page:
“What a disappointing performance today. I tried my best, but unfortunately my best was quite poor this time. A combination of the fact I couldn't handle the drift very well and Lin Dan wrong footed me a few times made me feel extremely insecure and indecisive, which of course resulted in many errors.”
Denmark`s Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen suffered a dramatic loss to Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto, with the fifth seeds falling 22-20, 19-21, 23-21 to their Indonesian opponents.
Tomorrow’s quarter-finals with Europeans:
Carolina Marin (ESP) vs Wang Shixian (CHN)
Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (DEN) vs Liu Xiaolong/Qiu Zihan (CHN)
Marcus Ellis/Chris Langridge (ENG) vs Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan (INA)
Jacco Arends/Selena Piek (NED) vs Xu Chen/Ma Chin (CHN)
Viktor Axelsen (DEN) vs Chen Long (CHN)
Christinna Pedersen/Kamilla Rytter-Juhl (DEN) vs Go Ah Ra/Yoo Hae Won (KOR)
Chris Adcock/Gabby Adcock (ENG) vs Lui Cheng/Bao Yixin (CHN)
Jan Ø. Jørgensen (DEN) vs Lin Dan (CHN)
Article by Manuel Rösler. All photos by BadmintonPhoto.