Bad, Danish opening at the Thomas Cup quarter-finals: Axelsen and men’s doubles lose
Denmark’s first match in the quarter-finals at the Thomas Cup against Taiwan ended in defeat to Denmark’s biggest badminton star. Viktor Axelsen had to point out his weapon against Tien Chen Chou.
After a tight first set, where Chou gained a quick five-point lead and eventually took the set home, Axelsen otherwise showed really good tactics in the second set, which he won clearly. But in the third and decisive set, Chou, ranked number 14 in the world, showed the strongest nerves in a dramatic match.
The Taiwanese thus won with 21-19, 14-21, 21-19, thus defying the statistics, where Axelsen had won four out of the five previous encounters between the two.
Soon after, the doubles with Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup, who are number four in the world, also lost. 21-14, 21-15 world number ten defending Olympic champions Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin won after a fairly one-sided affair.
Later, Anders Antonsen and Rasmus Gemke play in games that simply have to be won.
“I’m mega pissed. Mostly because I’m losing the match, but also the way it happened. Miserable, miserable, miserable. I want to rip something,” says Axelsen in the minutes after the defeat to TV 2 Sport and at the same time calls Chen’s victory completely deserved.
The match was particularly important for Denmark, as on paper very close matches await later in the day.
The world number 14 was behind the match 3-18 in the head-to-head against the 30-year-old from Fynbo, and after an even start, Axelsen steered towards an improvement in the statistics.
But Chou Tien Chen turned 5-10 to 11-10 against a lackluster Axelsen in the first set and also hit his second set point when the Dane hit the ball too far.
In the second set, Axelsen benefited from the “good” half of the court, and despite some continued playing problems, he got much better control of his lifts and subsequent smashes.
Both physically and game-wise, Axelsen seemed to be improving in the third set, and the jubilation was significant when he won 11-10 on the “bad” side before the break.
Chou Tien Chen seemed under pressure physically, but fought exemplary and won two very long duels at 19-18 and 20-19 and thus created the surprise.
The best of five matches are played in the quarter-finals, and the men’s doubles with Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup will be in action next.
The Danes, who are number four in the world, meet the world’s number ten, Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin.
In the third match, Anders Antonsen will face Lin Chun-Yi – a showdown between number 4 and 17 in the world.
2024-05-03 10:31:48
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