After an early round flurry from the home grown players day 3 in Barcelona saw the majority fall with Beatriz Corrales being the sole remaining Spaniard in the tournament at quarter final stage.
Corrales backed up her victory over Luise Heim yesterday with an equally impressive performance against the vastly experienced Bulgarian Linda Zetchiri. The Bulgarian had no answers to the speed and sharpness of attack from her Spanish opponent and Corrales was justifiably satisfied after her two set win.
- I have had a good summer. Even though I lost at the world championships the game I played was pretty good so we knew we had something to work on. I also had a nice holiday in Northern Spain which recharged the batteries so I am pleasantly pleased with my performance so far this week.
Talking about her quarter final opponent Corrales was keen to point out how important the economy of her victory was.
- Tomorrow I will play Mitani of Japan. Every bit of energy I saved in my first two rounds I will need tomorrow against her. The hall is warm and even though I am from Spain I can still feel the heat on court.
Corrales is 1 of 5 Europeans through to the women’s singles quarter final. Mia Blichfeldt (pictured above) has stuttered her way to the quarters with her never say die attitude getting her over the line against Britney Tam today.
- You know it was not pretty today, said Blichfeldt, and sometimes you just got to do whatever it takes to get it over the net. It was an ugly win and tomorrow I need to have more than just my mental and physical game with me against Busanan Ongbamrungphan.
Kirsty Gilmour will have the toughest quarter final after taking down old foe Mette Poulsen today. The Scot will now play tournament favourite Sayaka Takahashi after the Japanese gave Danish young gun Michelle Skodstrup a sharp lesson in top level world badminton today.