Denmark’s Peter Gade scored a surprise victory in the men’s singles semi-finals of the Yonex-Sunrise BWF World Super Series Masters Finals yesterday, beating Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21-10, 21-10.
“Winning 10 and 10 is a very good result against a player like Sony. I did not expect to win with such a score. I controlled the net and the wind,” Gade said.
“I also played a fast game. Sony has very good all-round play and likes to move around the court. If he gets going it is going to be tough long and tiring rallies. Fortunately he didn’t,” he said.
Gade’s opponent in the final will be Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia or Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat, who played their fixture later yesterday.
The crowd started off behind Sony, but found the Indonesian making too many mistakes and got behind the Dane, applauding his victory in 30 minutes.
Meanwhile in the men’s doubles, former All-England champions Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong marched into today’s final by knocking out Malaysian teammates Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif and Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari 22-20, 21-14 in 31 minutes.
The season-ending Super Series Masters Finals began on Thursday in Kota Kinabalu in the eastern state of Sabah on Borneo island. It offers a total purse of US$500,000, making it the world’s most lucrative badminton tournament. Koo and Tan are in line to pocket the US$42,000 prize money that comes with the title.
They will meet either top seeds Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan, whom they demolished in an earlier Group B fixture, or fourth-seeded South Korean pair Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung.
“If we win the Super Series title it will be our first big title this year. Frankly, it is more than we expected reaching this far in the Super Series,” Koo said.
India’s Saina Nehwal, 18, saw her run in the championship come to an end after Hong Kong’s Wang Chen beat her 15-21, 21-14, 21-16 in the semi-finals in 42 minutes.
“Saina played a very fast game in the first set. I could not catch up with her speed. She is a very strong player, she is very fast and very young,” Wang said.
“But I was able to come back. I now play a more relaxed game and there is no pressure. That’s why I can still play well,” she said.
In the all Indonesian women’s doubles semi-finals, Vita Marissa and Liliyana Natsir beat Jo Novita and Greysia Polii 21-19, 21-17.
In the mixed doubles semi-finals, Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl beat Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam 21-17, 22-20.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
The CTBC Brothers from Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) on Friday announced they reached an agreement with the team’s shortstop Chiang Kun-yu (江坤宇) to extend his contract by 10 years in a deal that could worth up to NT $147.88 million (US$4.5 million). Including a NT$10 million incentive bonus, the 24-year- old’s new contract stipulates that his monthly salary will be NT$660,000 starting this year, increasing to NT$1.2 million from the fifth year of the deal. Chiang’s new agreement also comes with a caveat in the form of a “player option” where he would have the choice to become a free
RSS