Odense: The upset bug has struck Denmark Open — again!
Viktor Axelsen of Denmark put on a masterclass over Lin Dan on Friday, handing Lin probably his worst career defeat by destroying “Super Dan” 21-8, 21-7 in 36 minutes.
The victory could be seen as a breakthrough for Axelsen who came close in beating Lin at the final of Japan Open in September, losing to the two time Olympic champion 19-21, 21-16, 19-21 in 78 minutes. Axelsen will take on No. 1 seed Chen Long next.
It’s also worth mention that Axelsen had put up a valiant effort against Chen Long at the World Championships in August before the Dane bowed out of the men’s singles quarter-finals 18-21, 29-30. In addition, the Axelsen also fought his heart out before falling 12-21, 14-21 21-18 to Chen Long in the Australian Open men’s singles final in June. Therefore, it’s going to be very interesting to see how Chen Long will cope with Axelsen in the semi-finals on Saturday, since Axelsen has shown his ability to resist or even to defeat these two top Chinese players.
Chen Long, on the other hand, outlasted Wei Nan of Hong Kong 13-21 21-13 21-16 in a thrilling quarter-final duel that lasted 59 minutes.
Unseeded Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia pulled off another huge upset on Friday, knocking out home favorite No. 2 seed Jan Jorgensen 21-19, 21-19 and will play No. 7 seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei for a spot in the finals.
Here are other semi-finals matchups on October 17:
Men’s Doubles:
1. Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong (Korea) vs Fu Haifeng/Zhang Nan (China)
2. Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (Denmark) vs Liu Cheng/Lu Kai (China)
Women’s Singles:
1. P.V. Sindhu (India) vs Carolina Marin (Spain)
2. Sung Ji Hyun (Korea) vs Li Xuerui (China)
Women’s Doubles:
1. Jung Kyung Eun/Shin Seung Chan (Korea) vs Reika Kakiiwa/Miyuki Maeda (Japan)
2. Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei (China) vs Ma Jin/Tang Yuanting (China)
Mixed Doubles:
1. Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin (China) vs Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir (Indonesia)
2. Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen (Denmark) vs Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na (Korea)
