General

Warriors together at the end of the battle. Photo: Mark Phelan/Badminton Europe
Gemke triumphs in 83 minute epic
Date: 4/1/2018 1:33 AM
Published by : Mark Phelan
Just like the famed women’s singles world championships final last year in Glasgow today’s men’s singles semi final at Orleans Masters was a match that you just did not want to end. In 83 minutes of skill and physicality it was Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke than prevailed over French home boy Lucas Claerbout. 

After sharing the opening games the match came down to a winner takes all slugfest with both men right on the edge of their physical capabilities after 1 hour 20 minutes on court. 

At 16-12 ahead it looked to be going the way of the Frenchman to the delight of the fanatic French fans who had stayed in the hall well until after midnight. Gemke clawed his way back but with every rally looked to be suffering with pains in his feet.

-I have a few blisters that have been bothering me and I could certainly feel the pain deep into that third set. 

It was Gemke who got to match point first but Claerbout survived to level at 20-20. From there Gemke somehow rallied the last of his reserves to win and after the initial disappointed sighs from the crowd they soon turned to applaud Gemke’s win as knowledgeable French badminton supporters always do. 

-This was a match of mental and physical hardship but a match played in great spirit and fairness said Claerbout. 

- In the end we both wanted it so bad and we were both so tired that it really came down to some luck one way or the other to see who won said the Dane. Lucas put up a great fight and the French fans were of course on his side but they also applauded good shots from both players. 

Caljouw giant killing continues

Gemke will now face off against the tournament’s giant killer Mark Caljouw (pictured above) after the Dutch ace added the scalp of Swiss Open winner Sameer Verma to his list of tournament victims after beating Jan O Jorgensen in the earlier rounds. 

-It will take a few hours for the win to sink in I guess but I was here to take my chance today and I did that. 

-I got very tired at the end of the third set so I went all in at the net to try and shorten the rallies. I knew I could take that risk as I had a few points advantage at the end of the set. 


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