Dubai: World number two Chen Long, fought back from a set down, to beat Danish badminton player Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 13-21 21-10 21-9 in 57 minutes on Thursday.
Vittinghus got off to an excellent start and pulled ahead with 12-4 lead in the first set. Chen attempted to narrow the points gap on Vittinghus by closing in at 13-18, but Vittinghus managed to close out the first set 21-13 by reeling off three consecutive points.
Chen employed a heavy aggressive style in the second set that proved too much for his Danish counterpart as he won the second set comfortably. Vittinghus seemed worn down by the many long rallies before he ran out of steam in the decider, to let Chen Long took his second Group A win.
K. Srikanth, who reached a career-high world number six in the newly released BWF rankings, got a good measure of Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto on Thursday before winning 21-18, 21-13 in 38 minutes. With the defeat, Tommy Sugiarto was technically eliminated from tournament.
In other men’s singles matches, Japan’s Momota bounced back from Wednesday’s loss to Srikanth for a shock 20-22, 21-18, 21-12 win over Jan Jorgensen of Denmark, while Korea’s Son Wan Ho retired while trailing Japan’s Kenichi Tago 9-21, 3-11.
“I feel much better about my game in general,” said Momota. “In the end I had the stronger stamina and I worked at avoiding any mistakes.
Results:
Men’s Singles:
Kenichi Tago (Japan) bt Son Won Ho (South Korea) 21-9, 11-3 (retd.);
Kento Momota (Japan) bt Jan O Jorgensen (Denmark) 20-22, 21-18, 21-12;
Chen Long (China) bt Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (Denmark) 13-21, 21-10, 21-9;
K. Srikanth (India) bt Tommy Sugiarto (Indonesia) 21-18, 21-13.
Men’s Doubles:
Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa (Japan) bt Liu Xiaolong-Qiu Zihan (China) 21-7,21-12
Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen (Denmark) bt Lee Sheng Mu-Tsai Chia Hsin (Taiwan) 21-16, 21-16
Chai Biao-Hong Wei (China) bt Lee Yong Dae-Yoo Yeon Seong (South Korea) 21-16, 21-18
Mixed Doubles:
Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen (Denmark) bt Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir (Indonesia) 21-15, 22-20;
Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei (China) bt Chris Adcock/Gabrielle Adcock (England) 21-14, 21-17;
Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin (China) bt Sudket Prapakamol/Saralee Thoungthongkam (Thailand) 21-7, 21-14.
