Commonwealth silver medallist Rajiv Ouseph led England’s assault on the quarter-finals of the London Grand Prix at the Copper Box Arena yesterday evening. But England’s Heather Olver and Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour booked their places in two quarter-finals each.
Ouseph, the six-times English National champion from West London beat Taipei’s Hsu Jui Ting 21-14 21-12 in 34 minutes. He was never behind in the opening game and, after dropping the first point of the second game, moved steadily ahead ahead with a confident display.
Ouseph
(main picture) said: "I was probably a bit more comfortable in the hall than I was yesterday, and I think his game style suited mine. “He is quite young, so he made a few mistakes that he wouldn’t have made if he was older. So I managed to capitalise on those and it was comfortable in the end so I was quite happy."
"The conditions change day to day, so every day you need to get used to the arena as quickly as you can so you’re comfortable and playing your own game.”
The fourth seed will face Zulfadi Zulkiffli of Malaysia in the last eight tomorrow night at the tournament which is being presented by BADMINTON England in partnership with adidas. He said: "I’m probably favourite to win, but I’ve played him before and it was a three- game match, so we’ll see how it goes tomorrow."
Denmark’s third seed Viktor Axelsen
(pictured below), the 19-year-old European Junior Champion from 2011, who took a coaching clinic earlier in the day, also moved into the last eight with a 21-10 21-12 win over Sweden’s Henri Hurskainen. Axelsen now meets China’s Song Xue.
But his team-mate, top seed Jan Ø Jørgensen, suffered a suprise defeat, going down 18-21 21-14 21-13 to China’s unseeded Australian Open winner Tian Houwei, who now plays eighth seed Zi Liang Derek Wong of Singapore in the same half as Ouseph.
Check the
men's singles results here.
Third seeds Chris Langridge and Olver were the first England players through to the last eight after winning the all-English mixed doubles battle with Andrew Ellis and Lauren Smith.
But the world No. 25 pair were pushed all the way before winning 21-19 21-17 in 49 minutes. Ellis and Smith had led 19-18 in the first game before Langridge and Olver, the more experienced mixed pair, reeled off three points in a row. The English National champions now face Germany’s Max Schwenger and Carla Nelte.
Check the
mixed doubles results here.
But in the men’s doubles second seeds Langridge and Peter Mills suffered disappointment against Indonesia’s Berry Angriawan and Ricky Karanda Suwardi of Indonesia. In the last match of the night the England pair were forced to quit at 1-1 in the first game because of Mills’ ankle injury.
Young England pair Peter Briggs and Harley Towler were left to fly the flag by reaching the last eight with a 21-16 21-11 win over Denmark’s Niclas Nohr and Nicolaj Overgaard.
Check the
men's doubles results here.
The big surprise in the women’s doubles came from Scottish pair Jillie Cooper and Kirsty Gilmour. The unseeded pair knocked out world No 21s and second seeds Birgit Michels and Johanna Goliszewski 22-20 21-11 to reach the quarter-finals.
Cooper said: “I think we found our rhythm with our serving and returns and we executed our game plan brilliantly. I don't think we could have done any better."
Olver and Kate Robertshaw, the No. 4 seeds, gave England fans something to shoud about at the end of the night when they defeated Thai pair Portntip Buranaprasertsuk and Busanan Ongbumrungpan with a crucial eight-point burst in the deciding game to come back from 11-13 to lead 19-13 on the way to a 62-minute 16-21 21-16 21-18 victory in the last match of the night. After their win Robertshaw said: “We played really well there, the best we’ve played for a quite a while. We were really consistent as well.” They now face Singapore pair Mingtian Fu and Yu Yan Vanessa Neo.
Check the
women's doubles results here.
Fifth seed Gilmour, who retained her Czech International title last weekend, booked her second quarter-final place with a 21-9 21-14 win over Maria Febe Kusumastuti of Indonesia in the women’s singles.
Carolina Marin, the number three seed in the London Grand Prix continued her fine start to the tournament with a 21-16, 21-15 win over Millicent Wiranto of Indonesia today. “It’s my first tournament of the season,” said Marin. “Two weeks ago I started to practice again. My performance is not so good now but I try to do my best.
“There are some good players here. It’s a tough tournament but I need to be fit for every game.”
The Spaniard’s win moves her into the quarter finals where she will play Hera Desi who yesterday eliminated the number seven seed, Karin Schnaase of Germany.
Check the
women's singles results here.
The London Grand Prix is a Gold event on the BWF Grand Prix. To view all today’s news go to
www.londongrandprixgold.co.uk
Play in tomorrow’s quarter-finals starts at 5pm and tickets are available at
www.theticketfactory.com
Article by William Kings. Photos by BadmintonPhoto.