Anders Antonsen and Viktor Axelsen brought the number of Danish EC victories up to 11 on Wednesday.
In European badminton, Denmark is a heavyweight. That was proven on Wednesday with a double-digit number of Danish EC victories.
All the Danes who were on the court on Wednesday at the EC in Saarbrücken, Germany, advanced to the round of 16.
11 wins in one day
When Anders Antonsen and Viktor Axelsen won their matches in the men’s singles on Wednesday evening, the Danes completed 11 victories in a single EC day.
Axelsen did not have much difficulty in defeating the German Kai Schäfer, who is number 81 in the world. The Danish world number seven won with the figures 21-12, 21-12.
Anders Antonsen had much more trouble when he won in two sets over the Spaniard Luis Enrique Penalver, who is number 98 in the world. The numbers read 21-16, 24-22 in a surprisingly close match.
Penalver, world number 98, was in the match for a long time and could have taken the second set.
Antonsen was in trouble
Antonsen, who is number four in the world, fell behind 10-12 in the first set, but turned it all around with eight points in a row and an 18-12 lead.
In the second set, Antonsen continued to dominate initially and won the first six points.
Then the Spaniard woke up and slowly ate his way into the set. After trailing 8-13, Penalver tied the game at 15-15.
And Antonsen actually ended up getting into big trouble.
In the second set, Penalver played his way to three set points at 20-18 and 21-20, but Antonsen fended them all off.
Happy Dane Day
Antonsen then abused a match point himself before taking advantage of his second. Earlier on Wednesday, Rasmus Gemke and Magnus Johannesen won and advanced to the round of 16 finals.
In women’s singles, Line Kjærsfeldt, Mia Blichfeldt, Line Christophersen and Julie Dawall Jakobsen won their matches. All four thus went to the round of 16. Three Danish mixed doubles also advanced on Wednesday.
Denmark has top-seeded participants in four out of five categories at the EC. Only in women’s singles does Denmark have to settle for a second seed.
2024-04-10 17:44:56
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