With two wins each in Group 3A of the TOTAL BWF Sudirman Cup 2019, Australia and Ireland were competing for the top spot in their group and a place in the 23rd/24th playoff on Friday against the winners of Group 3A.
Sawan Serasinghe and Setyana Mapasa were first on court against the Irish brother and sister duo, Sam and Chloe Magee, who are currently ranked at no. 37 in the world.
After dropping the first game, the Australian duo fought back to take the second but could not repeat their performance in the third.
Sam Magee/Chloe Magee (IRL) be Sawan Serasinghe/Setyana Mapasa 21-9 12-21 21-11
“It didn’t go well. We’ve played them before and won both times…We played the wrong game. There were patches where we were playing properly but we didn’t find the rhythm” – Sawan
Louisa Ma battled her way through the noise as the Chinese crowd showed up for their home team competing just two courts down. rated her second victory of her debut appearance.
Louisa Ma (AUS) vs Kate Frost (IRL) 21-14 21-16
“With all the noise you have to trust your shots from all my training. There were a few rallies where she was taking control of the rally but I just had to reset and take it point by point” – Louisa MA
Next on court, Australia’s 2019 men’s singles national champion, Jacob Schueler couldn’t measure up against Ireland’s hot prospect, Nhat Nguyen. The Irish player had a glorious Junior playing career and is slowly crawling up the senior world rankings.
Nhat Nguyen (IRL) vs Jacob Schueler (AUS) 21-4 21-12
Australia entered the women’s doubles with confidence as the established pairing and reigning regional champions, Setyana Mapasa and Gronya Somerville, took on the challenge of bringing the score back level.
The pair didn’t seem phased by the pressure to comfortably take the first game. The Irish duo fought back harder in the second game but Somerville and Mapasa showed their patience and determination to seize control and take the win.
Setyana Mapasa/Gronya Somerville (AUS) vs Chloe Magee/Rachael Darragh (IRL) 21-10 21-19
“In the end of the second game there was definitely a bit of pressure there to not let it go to three and most importantly get this point of Aus to make it two all. But we knew we just had to stay sharp and be patient like we were in the first set and then we executed it to get the close win.” – Gronya Somerville
It all came down to the men’s doubles with the reigning regional champions from Australia taking on the task.
The Australians came out strong and were leading at 11-7, but the Irish duo returned from the two-minute break with a vengeance as they surged through with six consecutive points to take control. From that moment, the game slowly drifted away from the Australian’s and Ireland secured their top spot in Group 3B.
Sam Magee/Nhat Nguyen (IRL) vs Sawan Serasinghe/Eric Vuong (AUS) 21-17 21-11
“Today’s match against Ireland was a real fifty-fifty match and the result showed that. It’s disappointing to come out on the wrong side of it but now we have to regroup for our group three, third place match on Friday. The team has played hard all week which is great and now we need to learn from it and move forward” – Ross Smith, head coach.
Ireland 3 – 2 Australia
Australia have finished second in Group 3A and will go on to compete against the winner of Group 3B on Friday 24 May from 11am, local time, to compete for third and fourth place in Group 3, and overall standings 23 or 24.
Follow the draws and results of the match on the TOTAL BWF Sudirman Cup 2019 website.
