Sydney: Friday was a bad day for one of the sweetest couples in badminton – Chen Long and Wang Shixian when both were sent packing in the quarter-finals of Australian Open.
Chen Long who has yet to win a championship in 2016, was hoping to win the Australian Open and to regain the World No. 1 ranking from Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, failed to reach the final four when he was beaten by 19-year-old Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia 21-14, 21-17 in 44 minutes.
“I am very happy today, not just because I defeated Chen Long, but also because I performed better than yesterday. I was very relaxed today and have cut down on my mistakes,” said Ginting after the match.
Ginting will play South Korea’s Jeon Hyeok Jin next, when the South Korean’s opponent – Hu Yun withdrew in their quarterfinal match.
Chen Long’s girlfriend, Wang Shixian’s Olympic hopes may have been dashed after she was defeated by compatriot No. 3 seed Li Xuerui 21-19, 21-17 in 38 minutes on Friday.
Meanwhile, India’s Saina Nehwal was forced to dig very deep before the No. 7 seed Indian manage to dismiss No. 2 seed, the 2013 World Champion Ratchanok 28-26 , 21-16 in a 56-minute hard-fought women’s singles battle.
Li Xuerui will play another Chinese player Sun Yu on Saturday while Saina Nehwal will take on Wang Yihan in the semi-finals.
