Throughout the morning on Saturday 30 March, the quarter-finals took place in Hamilton, Waikato as the players compete for a spot in this evening’s semi-finals.
The mixed doubles were the first to compete on court, with three pairs holding the Oceania fort. New Zealand’s youngsters, Ben Perkinson and Ella Smith, showed signs of a promising future after pushing last week’s champions from China, Zhang and Pan, to three games. Similarly, New Zealand’s Dacmen Vong and Justine Villegas narrowly missed out on a semi-finals spot after two extremely close games:
- Zhang Hanyu/Pan Hanxiao (CHN) vs Ben Perkinson/Ella Smith (NZL) 21-14 18-21 21-14
- Dai Zhiyi/Wang Hui (CHN) vs Dacmen Vong/Justine Villegas (NZL) 21-18 21-19
“We set some goals before the match an we were making progress in these areas. We’re obviously gutted by the end result but as a pair it’s a big step forward in our game “ – Ella Smith
“We managed to fight back and take the second set. It was unfortunate we couldn’t take that fight through to the third, however I think we did really well to help improve our partnership going into the future.” – Ben Perkinson.
Meanwhile, the regional mixed doubles Champions, Gronya Somerville and Simon Wing Hang Leung, showed exactly why they are seeded first in Waikato after winning against last week’s finalists from China:
- Simon Wing Hang Leung/Gronya Somerville (AUS) [1] vs Yan Yuhang/Yang Jiayi (CHN) 21-15 21-15
First seed Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam showed endurance and precision as he overcame Adam Dolman to become the only seeded player left in the men’s singles competition. The second seed from Vietnam was overpowered by China’s Gao Zhengze, in an exact repeat of last week’s quarter-final at the YONEX North Harbour International 2019.
- Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE) [1] vs Adam Dolman (AUS) 21-12 21-11
- Gao Zhengze (CHN) vs Andre Marteen (VIE) [2] 21-13 21-18
“It’s my first time playing someone with that experience and world ranking. I’ve been watching him play and he is really quick, so I was trying to keep going with longer rallies.” – Adam Dolman.
Australia’s Gronya and Setyana returned to the international stage as a pair for the first time since winning the regional championships last month. The pair showed every intention of living up to their first seeding after comfortably defeating their Chinese opponents:
- Gronya Somerville/Setyana Mapasa (AUS) [1] vs Qiu Ziying/Wang Hui (CHN) 21-7 21-9
“Gronya and I always go into every match with a positive, winning attitude which we demonstrated on court in the quarter-finals” – Setyana Mapasa
Meanwhile, the New Zealand second seeds narrowly missed out against the Chinese champions from last week’s BWF Future Series event – where they also met int he quarter-finals stage. Despite several long rallies and a tantilising end, the pair were unable to go one better this week:
- Pan Hanxiao/Yang Jiayi (CHN) vs Sally Fu/Alyssa Tagle (NZL) [2] 21-15 21-18
“After playing them last week, we felt a little more prepared, but a few mistakes crept in. In the end it was still a good match but we will put it down to experience” – Alyssa Tagle
“It’s a great preparation for the New Zealand Open where we can hopefully make the home nation proud.” – Sally Fu
However, one of the last matches on court delivered great news for New Zealand juniors, as Roanne Apalisok and Janice Jiang put on a sterling performance against their Malaysian opponents to book a place in their first BWF International Series semi-final:
- Roanne Apalisok/Janice Jiang (NZL) vs Dharshinie Vasigaran/Jayshinie Vasigaran (MAS) 23-21 22-20
“We were both really nervous so we made lots of mistakes, but we know what intensity we need to aim towards and we’re very excited for the semi-finals tonight” – Janice Jiang
Unfortunately, two of the women’s singles players had to withdraw from the competition at the quarter-finals stage. Australia’s Qin Jinjing retired halfway through the second match against the first seed from Vietnam, while England’s Emily Beach had to withdraw before the match due to a foot injury.
Meanwhile, China’s Wang Siqi brought her finest deceptive play to the to court to overcome the second seed from Singapore:
- Wang Siqi (CHN) vs Chua Hui Zhen Grace (SGP) [2] 21-16 21-11
Finally, in the men’s doubles, the first seeds and runners-up at the recent VICTOR Oceania Championships, Simon Wing Hang Leung and Mitchell Wheller, were knocked in what was an exact repeat of last week’s final at the YONEX North Harbour International. The Australian’s got off to a great start after taking the first game, but the Chinese fought back and went on to take the overall win:
- Xuheng Zhuanyi/Zhang Binrong (CHN) vs Simon Wing Hang Leung/Mitchell Wheller (AUS) [1] 16-21 21-16 21-17
After beating New Zealand’s Oud and Steeghs, the second seeds from Singapore will be the only pair to stand in China’s way in this evening’s semi-final:
Wen Xing Abel Tan/Han Zhuo Toh {SGP) [2] vs Dhanny Oud/Christopher Steeghs (NZL) 21-11 21-14
View all of the results from the quarter-finals on Tournament Software.
The semi-finals begin at 5pm on Saturday 30 March 2019.
You can watch the action on court 7 on the Badminton New Zealand YouTube channel.
