They never left each other. An intense match for Christo Popov, a fiercely contested opposition against world number 31 Su Li Yang, but the young Fosséen qualified for the semi-finals of the German Open after 1h40 (!) of play. Enough to ideally launch the European tour .
He raised his arms a few minutes too early. A match shuttlecock that was ultimately just a centimeter too long (22-21) forced the French champion to hang on to finally surrender (22-24) and embark on a still breathless third round.
In the semi-final against Korean Hyeok Jin Jeon
A new marathon was going to be fought for a match which already exceeded the hour of play. A logical outcome between two players who never left each other in one step, going blow for blow or almost during 1h40 of intense effort.
The last word finally went to the Provençal who was able to produce his effort in the second part of the third round, fresher, more able to manage the emotions of this end of the match, the French champion will appear this Saturday in the semi-final of the German Open where he will face the Korean Hyeok Jin Jeon, also victorious in three sets of his quarter-final.
Spectacular points
Christo Popov will have to recover well with the help of a whole staff to support him. At the cost of defenses, each more spectacular than the last. He will have time on the massage table to remember the film of the meeting. Christo Popov was the most mature to blow away the first round with a final tasty point (21-19), just to properly punctuate a round where the shots, each more spectacular than the other, followed one another.
The 2024 French champion could appreciate it but he was not at the end of his troubles because the rest was still complicated. Li Yang held on and despite two semi-final shuttlecocks for Popov, it was a third round that opened between two cooked players. 11-10 at the change of sides in favor of the Provençal, 13-13, the debates continued to be unbreathable but the chess game finally turned in favor of Christo Popov who played the moves better to finally see a first gap take place in the match 19-14. If the representative of Taipei Li Yang came back to 19-17, it was Christo Popov who had the last word, offering himself a deserved place in the semi-finals on a Super 300 against an opponent within his reach (N. 54 at the BWF…)
2024-03-01 19:58:20
#Sports #Badminton #German #Open #Fosséen #Christo #Popov #semifinal #German #Super
