Mulheim: Two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan and German Open’s defending champion Jan O Jorgensen made it through to the second round of the USD$120,000 German Open Grand Prix Gold on Wednesday.
Lin Dan registered a tougher than expected victory against Netherlands’ Mark Caljouw in his second round match. Both players were tied at 18-18, 19-19, 20-20 in the first game before “Super Dan” strung 2 consecutive points to clinch the game 22-20. Game two saw Lin Dan built a big lead at 15-6 without giving Mark Caljouw a chance to get back into the game, demolishing his Dutch opponent 21-11. Lin Dan will take on Raul Must of Estonia on Thursday for a quarter-final berth.
Defending champion Jorgensen on the other hand survived a major scare on Wednesday, outlasting Hong Kong’s Vincent Wong Wing Ki 21-12, 22-20 to advance to the third round. Jorgensen will face No. 15 seed Lee Dong Keun of Korea on Thursday.
In the men’s singles first round that kicked off Tuesday evening, No. 3 seed Viktor Axelsen was far from his best after suffering a 21-11, 12-21, 15-21 defeat to unseeded Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in 54 minutes.
“Things did not go as planned. Kento got better and better during the match, and my body was struggling a lot,” said the disappointed Viktor Axelsen.
Men’s singles No. 7 seed Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia was also stunned in the first round of the German Open on Tuesday after losing to Tan Yuhan of Belgium, going down 21-12, 17-21, 19-21 in 51 minutes.
