On the second day of the 74th German Badminton Championships in Cloppenburg (Lower Saxony), the place in the quarter-finals was at stake. The women’s doubles was the last discipline to start the tournament.
Amelie Lehmann (Refrath) and Selin Hübsch (Trittau) only wobbled briefly. The women’s doubles team, seeded 1st, had to fend off three set points in the second set against Michelle Kanschik and Sophie Reimers (SC Brandenburg) – and won the round 22-20. In the evening, Hübsch/Lehmann also beat Sarah Pinnen and Antonia Remakulus (Remagen) (21-11, 21-3), booking their ticket to the quarter-finals on Saturday. All of the first eight doubles on the seeding list are there.
The favorites are also two rounds further in the men’s doubles. Bjarne Geiss (Wittorf) and Jones Jansen (Wipperfeld) first won against Julian and Simon Kramer (Schorndorf/21-16, 21-9), then in the round of 16 against Jarne Schlevoigt and Nikolaj Stupplich (1.BV Mülheim/21-18, 21-16). Geiss has won two German championship titles so far, Jansen has won three – but never together.
Michael Fuchs (9 titles) and Marvin Seidel (4/Saarbrücken) also think so. After the round of 16 win against Matti Bahro and Elias Beckmann (Refrath/21-17, 21-3), Seidel said: “We hope it goes to the title. But there will still be a few tough games until then. We want to win the thing – but definitely have fun.” And Fuchs said: “It’s a lot of fun with Marvin. From my point of view, he’s our top player in doubles and mixed doubles – so it’s a huge honor for me.”
Brid Stepper (Lüdinghausen), defending champion in the women’s singles, is also in the quarterfinals after two clear victories against Lena Chernuchin (Bochum/21-10, 21-15) and Sarah Nickel (Dortelweil/21-8, 21-14). Stepper can only meet Yvonne Li (Dortelweil), who was missing last year and has already won the title six times, in the final. Constanze Winnefeld (1. BV Mülheim) defeated Marie Lücke (Jena) in a three-set thriller 21-14, 20-22, 21-18.
And the favorites in the men’s singles didn’t show any weakness on Friday either. The top four seeds, Matthias Kicklitz (Dortelweil), Brian Holtschke (Refrath), Justin Seibel (Neuhausen) and David Kramer (Schorndorf), each made it to the quarter-finals without losing a set. Karl Sufryd narrowly prevailed against Milan Zeisig (Berliner Breweries) in the only three-set match of the round of 16 (21-15, 19-21, 21-16).
