Women's Singles Group B is set for a tantalising finish after
Akane Yamaguchi beat Olympic champion Carolina Marin in a late match
today at the Dubai World Superseries Finals.
With top contender Pusarla V Sindhu also falling, to Sun Yu, the
group was thrown open. The final group matches tomorrow will decide the
semi-finalists.
Japan's Yamaguchi sustained her pacy style even in the late
stages of the match to outlast Spain's Marin 18-21 21-17 21-14 in 86
minutes, the longest match of the tournament thus far.
Earlier, Sun Yu got her second big win on successive days, beating crowd favourite Pusarla V Sindhu 21-15 21-17.
After an uneven start, Pusarla had things going her way for a
while in the second, working the shuttle around and flicking quick
winners. That she couldn't capitalise on a handy 13-9 lead and push the
contest into a third game was the story of the match - at important
phases the Indian switched to a reactive rather than creative mode,
enabling Sun to grab the initiative with her heavy smashes from the
back. Once the momentum shifted, the Indian slowly faltered in a clutch
of errors, and Sun had the match under control.
In contrast to Group B, the semi-finalists from Group A were
decided today, with Tai Tzu Ying joining Sung Ji Hyun into the knockout
stage. World No.1 Tai was untroubled by the less-than-fully-fit
Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand) as she eased to a 21-12 21-14 result.
Intanon, still recovering from a knee injury, was tentative around the
court and gave Tai all the openings she needed to quickly finish the
job.
'I just commenced training two weeks ago,' said Intanon. 'The
first week was about trying to move. I'm getting better. The injury
happened before the Olympics, but after that it kept getting worse. I do
feel bad missing out on tournaments, especially since so many young
players are coming up.'
Li/Liu Crash Out
Malaysia's Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong won a thrilling
58-minute battle against Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen to cement their
semi-final place from Group B of Men's Doubles.
Li/Liu second loss meant that they have no hope of progressing to the knockout stage.
Goh and Tan kept their nerve in a tight finish, edging past the
Chinese duo 18-21 21-19 21-19. The Malaysians' next match with China's
Chai Biao/Hong Wei will decide the group winners.
Meanwhile, in Mixed Doubles, defending champions Chris
Adcock/Gabrielle Adcock find themselves in a spot after losing to
China's Zheng Siwei/Chen Qingchen 21-17 21-17. The England duo have to
win tomorrow's match against China's Lu Kai/Huang Yaqiong, but even that
will not guarantee them of a spot in the semi-finals.
Olympic champions Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir bowed out of the
tournament owing to Natsir's knee injury. The Indonesians retired at
21-8 11-6 down against Denmark's Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna
Pedersen. The Danes and another Indonesian pair, Praveen Jordan/Debby
Susanto, progressed to the semi-finals.
