Japanese superstars Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino opened proceedings on quarter finals day at the Crown Group Australian Badminton Open 2019.
Watanabe was seeking revenge for his early exit in the men’s doubles at the hands of Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol. Alongside Higashino, the Japanese second seeds stumbled in the second game but bounced back to deliver a three-game thriller to energise the crowds and book their place in the semi finals.
- Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino (JPN) and Ko Sung Hyun/Eom Hye Won (KOR) 21-19 14-21 21-19
Hyun returned to the court with Cheol later in the evening to cause one of the biggest upsets of the day in the men’s doubles. The pair have been in fantastic form all week after seeing off the fifth seeds in the first round and straight set wins in the second round and today’s quarter finals against the third seeds
- Ko Sung Hyun/Eom Hye Won (KOR) vs Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan (INA) 21-15 21-15
“Despite our low ranking, we enjoy taking challenges and do our best. We know that players in a high ranking usually feel so much pressure. We just focused on scoring points one by one, which has led to this good result“, says Ko Sung Hyun
There were two other major upsets in the mixed doubles as Indonesia’s Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktivaianti competed in an exact repeat of last month’s New Zealand Open against Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying (Malaysia). The Indonesian duo were able to make up for the narrow defeat and won the game in two.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet signed off the evening with a scintillating performance against the fourth seeds, Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja.
- Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktivaianti (INA) vs Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying (MAS) 21-18 22-20
- Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet (HKG) Hafiz Faizal/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja (INA) 22-20 21-14
Possibly the biggest upset of the night came in the women’s doubles, as Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu ousted the first seeds in straight sets, defeating the Japanese favourites for the first time of four previous meets.
- Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu (INA) vs Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara (JPN)[1] 21-19 21-18
Find out all the results, statistics and tomorrow’s semi-final schedule on Tournament Software.
