Paris: After a hotly-anticipated French Open quarter-final clash against Singapore’s World No. 5 Loh Kean Yew, Denmark’s World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen prevailed in straight sets 21-11, 21-17 in a match that lasted 45 minutes.
In last Friday’s Denmark Open quarter-finals, Loh defeated Axelesn 21-17, 21-10.
But on Friday night, Axelsen exhibited a whirlwind display of power and determination, winning the first game21-11 by kept sending the shuttlecock to Loh’s left baseline and to avoid playing too many net shots with the Singaporean.
Axelsen was more daring with his net shots in the second game, and he ended the match by killing a return from Loh near the net, with the score of 21-17.
The World No. 1 will play Japan’s Kodai Naraoka in the semi-finals.
Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong will take on Rasmus Gemke in another men’s singles semi-final.
In men’s doubles, England’s Ben Lane/Sean Vendy defeated Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang of China 25-23, 21-10 to set up a semi-final meeting with Lu Ching Yao/Yang Po Han of Taiwan.
India’s No. 7 seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty created a surprise to upset No. 1 seeds Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi of Japan 23-21, 21-18 on Friday to clash with Choi Sol Gyu/Kim Won Ho of Korea for a spot in the final.
The women’s singles semi-finals are going to be exciting as World No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi will play World No. 6 Carolina Marin while World No. 2 Tai Tzu Ying will lock horns with World No. 8 He Bingjiao.
Malaysia’s World No. 11 women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan continued their strong run of form as they stunned World No. 3 Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida of Japan 15-21, 21-14, 21-14 to play Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee of Korea in the last four.
The Japanese team will be guaranteed at least a silver medal in the women’s doubles event when the No. 4 seeds Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara will play compatriots, the No. 5 seeds Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota for a final berth.
The mixed doubles semi-finals saw reigning world champions Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong battle Mark Lamsfuss/Isabel Lohau of Germany in the top half, while Robin Tabeling/Selena Piek of Netherlands will meet Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto/Lisa Ayu Kusumawati of Indonesia in the bottom half.
