The quarter-finalists have been decided at the BWF International Series event taking place in Hamilton this week.
The drama continued to unfold as more of the top seeds exited on day two, with only a handful of the top seeds left in the competition across all five disciplines.
Following an impressive win yesterday against the eighth seed, Adam Dolman secured a spot in the men’s singles quarter-finals – his first ever quarter-final appearance at a BWF International Series event – after overcoming his New Zealand opponent in two games:
- Adam Dolman (AUS) vs Ryan Tong (NZL) 21-18 21-15
“Pretty buzzing with my results today. I always think – I didn’t come this far, to come this far…so I go into every match with a winning attitude.” – Adam Dolman.
The USA’s Ye Binghong caused one of the first upsets on day two after overcoming the sixth seed from Singapore in the men’s singles:
- Ye Hingbong (USA) vs Jia Wei Joel Koh (SGP) [8] 21-11 21-13
Meanwhile, the top three seeds ease through to the quarter-finals after they all secured a two-game win:
- Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE) [1] vs Gu Junfeng (CHN) 21-11 21-17
- Andre Marteen (INA) [2] vs Athi Selladurai (NZL) 21-13 21-12
- Le Duc Phat (VIE) [3] vs Shota Omoto (JPN) 21-11 21-12
Similarly, in the women’s singles, only three of the top seeded players are left. Australia’s Qin Jinjing is looking to make up for last week’s disappointing withdrawal through injury at the YONEX North Harbour International 2019. She defeated New Zealand’s Roanne Apalisok in two games to secure a quarter-finals spot.
- Qin Jinjing (AUS) vs Roanne Apalisok (NZL) 21-13 21-16
The first seed from Vietnam, Thi Trang (B) Vu, is looking to compensate for last week’s early exit after defeating the recently crowned junior women’s singles champion at the VICTOR Oceania Championships, Shaunna Li. Meanwhile, the third seed from New Zealand, Sally Fu, couldn’t get past the strong Chinese opposition and went down in two games:
- Thi Trang (B) Vu (VIE) [1] vs Shaunna Li (NZL) 21-13 21-8
- Wu Luoyu (CHN) vs Sally Fu (NZL) [3] 21-11 21-14
In the men’s doubles, the first seeds show every intention of competing in the final for the second week running after storming past their New Zealand opposition:
- Simon Wing Hang Leung/Mitchell Wheller (AUS) [1] vs Ryan Tong/Patrick Wang (NZL) 21-8 21-17
Elsewhere in the men’s doubles draw, Adam Dolman booked his second quarter-final appearance alongside Australia’s 2019 men’s singles national champion, Jacob Scheuler, where they’ll also be joined by New Zealand third seeds Jonathan Curtin and Dylan Soedjasa:
- Adam Dolman/Jacob Scheuler (AUS) vs Joshua Feng/Jack Jiang (NZL) 21-9 21-10
- Jonathan Curtin/Dylan Soedjasa (NZL) vs Ricky Cheng/Nelson Zhang (NZL) 21-18 21-17
Due to an unfortunate accident yesterday, involving a shuttlecock to the eye, Singapore’s Wong Jia Ying Crystal had to withdraw from the women’s doubles competition – giving New Zealand’s Roanne Apalisok and Janice Jiang a bye into the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Rebecca Fong and Jasmin Ng comfortably won their first-round match in two:
- Rebecca Hayley Fong/Jasmin Chung Man Ng (NZL) vs Amreen Virk/Jacqueline Yu (NZL) 21-8 21-11
Last week’s finalists from the YONEX North Harbour International are looking to repeat their success as they remain on track to meet in the final if they can keep up their winning streaks. Both pairs won their first-round matches in two games:
- Pan Hanxiao/Yang Jiayi (CHN) vs Lily Rose/Ella Smith (NZL) 21-10 21-6
- Hou Fangfang/Li Jiajia (CHN) vs Erena Calder-Hawkins/Anona Pak (NZL) 21-8 21-14
Finally, in the mixed doubles, Australia’s first seeds Gronya Somerville and Simon Wing Hang Leung have also secured their spot in the quarter-finals. The pair will be looking to go one further than last week, when they bowed out in the quarter-finals against the eventual winners.
- Simon Leung/Gronya Somerville (AUS) [1] vs Zhang Binrong/Hou Fangfang (CHN) 21-16 21-13
New Zealand’s fourth seeds, Jonathan Curtin and Erena Calder-Hawkins came close to victory against last week’s champions. The kiwi players took the first game in emphatic style, before stepping off the pedal in the second. The third end remained a close contest throughout, but it was the young Chinese players who eventually came out on top:
- Zhang Hanyu/Pan Hanxiao (CHN) vs Jonathan Curtin/Erena Calder-Hawkins (NZL) [4] 20-22 21-7 21-18
“In the first set we were in control of a lot of things, we didn’t want to challenge them in their strong points which is the fast and flat game, so we just tried to find the space. We obviously really wanted the win, but they played a lot better than us towards the end.” – Jonathan Curtin
“In the second we were a bit more nervous, but we managed to bring our mindset back in the third just to enjoy the experience and enjoy the game.” – Erena Calder-Hawkins
Meanwhile, Waikato’s own junior representative players, Ben Perkinson and Ella Smith are enjoying success after booking a spot in their first ever BWF International Series quarter-finals. The pair won the first game in emphatic style, before fellow New Zealander’s Feng and Li battled back to take the second. In a nail-biting finish, the young Waikato players celebrated an overall win to book a return trip to the hall tomorrow:
- Ben Perkinson/Ella Smith (NZL) vs Joshua Feng/Shaunna Li (NZL) 27-25 16-21 21-18
“In that game, we got off to a really good start. We dropped in confidence during the second but managed to bring ourselves back up towards the end.” – Ella Smith
“I haven’t competed in events like this yet, so it’s quite a step up for me. Tomorrow will be tough so we will try to recover overnight.” – Ben Perkinson
You can view all of the results from day two of competition, along with the schedule for the quarter-finals, on Tournament Software.
Court seven will be live-streamed throughout the quarter-finals and semi-finals, via the Badminton New Zealand YouTube channel.
Quarter-finals start at 10am.
Semi-finals begin at 5pm.
