After a wild Monday in which there were both upsets and somewhat expected outcomes, Tuesday brings the badminton fan more thrilling action. The docket includes men’s and women’s doubles semifinal action, women’s singles quarterfinal matches, and concludes with the mixed doubles bronze medal match between China’s Zhang/Zhao and Xu Chen/Ma Jin.
Tomorrow’s matchups:
Women’s Singles Quarterfinals
Carolina Marin (Spain) vs. Sung Ji Hyun (Korea)
After earning a bye to the quarterfinals, Carolina Marin will look to make a statement in the quarterfinal round vs. Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun. Sung beat surprise advancer Linda Zetchiri from Bulgaria in the round of 16 but Marin is on a whole different level.
Sindhu Pusarla (India) vs. Yihan Wang (China)
- Performing better in her round of 16 match than she did in group play, Sindhu will have to continue that trend if she wants to have a chance at beating the world’s 2nd ranked player, China’s Yihan Wang.
Nozomi Okuhara (Japan) vs. Akane Yamaguchi)
- In an all-Japanese affair, 6th ranked Okuhara takes on her countrymate Akane Yamaguchi for a berth in the semifinals on the line. With both players knowing each other’s front and backcourt tendencies, the match should come down to the wire and has great potential of being a three-game match.
Li Xuerui (China) vs. Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (Thailand)
- Li Xuerui, looking to repeat as gold medal winner, will face Buranaprasertsuk on Tuesday evening in her quarterfinal matchup. Li beat Team USA’s Iris Wang in her last group match to advance in the tournament.
Men’s Doubles Semifinals
Chai Biao/Hong Wei (China) vs. Goh/Tan (Malaysia)
- After beating the Russian duo of Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov in the quarterfinals 2-1, the Chinese duo Chai Biao and Hong Wei take the stage against Goh/Tan from Malaysia. Both of these teams played three games yesterday so fatigue could be a factor for either side.
Zhang/Fu (China) vs Ellis/Langridge (Great Britain)
- Zhang/Fu Haifeng played an extraordinary match in the quarterfinals against the 3rd ranked Korean duo of Kim Gi Jung and Kim Sa Rang, knocking them off 2-1 after three intense matches. Ellis/Langridge from Great Britain have gone farther than most expected, even with being ranked 22nd in the world. The British tandem defeated a talented duo in Endo/Hayakawa from Japan 2-0 in the quarterfinals and will be facing a Chinese pairing that played three long and draining matches vs. their rivals.
Women’s Doubles Semifinals
Matsutomo/Takahashi (Japan) vs. Jung/Shin (Korea)
- In the first two games of their quarterfinal match with Malaysia’s Hoo/Woon tandem, the world’s top ranked women’s double duo had a difficult time putting their opponents away on long rallies. However, in the third game, they were the duo that everyone knows, beating the Malaysians soundly, 21-9. They face Jung/Shin from Korea who beat the Netherlands pairing of Muskens and Piek 2-1 in another long, drawn-out match.
Tang/Yu (China) vs. Pedersen/Rytter Juhl (Denmark)
- The second ranked Chinese duo in the world, for all intents and purposes, dominated the 4th ranked team in the world from Indonesia. They won 2-0, 21-11 and 21-14, in fairly “easy” fashion. The Danes, on the other hand, played a long first game against the Lee/Chang duo in the quaterfinals, going on to win 2-1 in the match. Fatigue could be a factor on the side of the Chinese for the semifinal.