In the absence of their accomplished senior compatriots, the young Danish athletes are performing strongly at the ongoing Saarlorlux Open. They will contest six of the ten semifinals tomorrow with an assured finals spot in the women’s doubles.
Amalie Magelund/Freja Ravn overcame the fourth seeds Linda Efler/Isabel Herttrich 22-20, 21-15 in straight games. In another women’s doubles encounter, the second seeds Maiken Fruergaard/Sara Thygesen easily booked a semifinals place in just 28 minutes.
Elsewhere, the top-seeded Stoeva sisters breezed past Alexandra Boje/Mette Poulsen 21-13, 21-15.
An unbelievable comeback
While Jeppe Bay/Lasse Molhede had little trouble against Lucas Corvee/Brice Leverdez, the new Danish men’s doubles pair Daniel Lundgaard/Mathias Thyrri managed to win by the skin of their teeth. After dropping the opening game and trailing throughout the second, they bagged it to force a decider. Down 15-20, the youngsters saved all five match points and scored seven consecutive points to win the match by the closest of margins 15-21, 21-19, 22-20.
Just as expected
All the top seeds made it to the semifinals in the women’s singles. The overwhelming favourite Carolina Marin shook off the resistance by Qi Xuefei as she closed down a five-point deficit to level at 18-18 in the second game. The Spaniard won 21-12, 21-18 in 37 minutes. She faces another European star tomorrow in the form of Kirsty Gilmour.
Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt beat younger compatriot Julie Dawall Jakobsen in straight games to set up a semifinal encounter against the home favourite Yvonne Li. The German is in great form and will seek to avenge the Denmark Open’s semifinal loss to Marin, if she reaches the final on Sunday. She beat another Spaniard Beatriz Corrales 21-18, 21-14 in today’s quarterfinal.
Popov overcomes Weisskirchen
The German Max Weisskirchen could not build up on yesterday’s sensational win over the top seed Rasmus Gemke. The 22-year-old Toma Junior Popov put behind a close first game loss to make a strong comeback. Down 16-18 in the final game, he held his nerves to emerge victorious 20-22, 21-7, 21-18 on the 77th minute. He faces Ditlev Jaeger Holm tomorrow.
On the other hand, the third seed Mark Caljouw hardly broke a sweat as he won 21-7, 21-6 against Ivan Rusev.
Mixed day for Germany
The hosts Germany will be contesting three semifinals tomorrow. Yvonne Li will be joined by the men’s doubles pair Jones Ralfy Jansen/Peter Kaesbauer. Later in the day, the Denmark Open champions Mark Lamsfuss/Isabel Herttrich are expected to win in an all-German mixed doubles quarterfinal.