Michael Owen played three matches on Day 3 in Bendigo and left with two wins and a place in the men’s doubles semi-finals. It was a fair picture of the day for Oceania, with strong runs for our doubles pairs and the end of the line in singles.
Owen’s long day
Owen and Jack Yu opened with a 21-12, 21-12 win over Ken Richardson and Chung Li Eric Choo in the men’s doubles round of 16. They then reached the semi-finals with a 21-13, 21-18 win over Rafael Gavois and Jayden Lim, who had advanced from the last round on a walkover.
The mixed doubles was harder. Owen and Gronya Somerville, the second seeds, were defeated 21-15, 21-19 by Lin Bing-Wei and Lin Yen Yu in the quarter-finals.
Shimizu and Ramadiansyah push on
Australia’s Nozomi Shimizu and Andika Ramadiansyah, the top seeds in the mixed doubles, are in the semi-finals after a three-game win over Lu Chen and Yun Jung Chang, 21-19, 19-21, 21-14. Chen and Chang were the pair who eliminated Australians Jack Yu and Angela Yu on Day 1, so it was a satisfying result.
Shimizu’s day also included a near miss. Partnering fellow Australian Laudya Chelsea Griselda in the women’s doubles round of 16, she lost to Liao Jui-Chi and Lin Yen Yu 21-12, 18-21, 20-22 after winning the first game comfortably.
Trans-Tasman pairing wins a close one
Australia’s Angela Yu and New Zealand’s Camellia Zhou won a tight women’s doubles round of 16 match 23-21, 21-19 against Australians Jazmine Lam and Yee-Yuan Lim, who went to the world championships earlier this year. They then lost 21-14, 21-15 to Chung Chia En and You Zhu Wang in the quarter-finals.
It is the first tournament Zhou and Yu have played together, and Zhou was asked what that has been like.
“It’s really exciting because we’ve never played together before,” Zhou said. “It’s always fun to learn from different partners, and from different training styles and playing styles.”
Yu was asked about the match itself. “I think we’ve played very well,” she said. “There were sometimes where we made a couple of mistakes, but we were able to get back and win more points.”
Edison and Lee into the last four
Australia’s Keith Mark Edison and Malaysia’s Samuel Lee are through to the men’s doubles semi-finals.
Exits for our players
Rui Gao’s run ended in the women’s singles quarter-finals, where she lost 21-18, 21-19 to Shu-Yu Wen, a day after her round of 16 win over India’s Kundu Garima. With the earlier singles exits, no Oceania player remains in the singles draws.
In the men’s doubles, New Zealand’s Raphael Deloy and Dylan Soedjasa defeated Yuan Hao Luo and Le The Hung Pham 21-13, 21-8 in the round of 16, then lost 21-18, 21-11 to the second seeds Huang Tsung-I and Lin Ting-Yu in the quarter-finals. Somerville and Josephine Wu, the third seeds in the women’s doubles, were eliminated in the round of 16 by Chung Chia En and You Zhu Wang, 21-15, 21-11.
The semi-final line-ups
Men’s doubles: Owen/Yu (AUS), Edison (AUS)/Lee (MAS), Shao Hua Chiu/Lin Bing-Wei and Huang Tsung-I/Lin Ting-Yu.
Mixed doubles: Shimizu/Ramadiansyah (AUS), Huang Tsung-I/Wang Yi Zhan, Lin Ting-Yu/Tsai Ruo Lin and Lin Bing-Wei/Lin Yen Yu.
Women’s doubles: Hsieh Mi Yen/Yu Chien Hui, Liao Jui-Chi/Lin Yen Yu, Yi Tsen Hsieh/Jui-Yi Hsu and Chung Chia En/You Zhu Wang.
Women’s singles: top seed Tung Ciou-Tong, who defeated Niina Matsuta 21-13, 21-18, plus Liao Jui-Chi, Shu-Yu Wen and Indonesia’s Kyla Legiana Agatha.
Men’s singles: Chiang Tzu Chieh, Liao Jhao-Fu, Ting Yen-Chen and India’s Ansh Negi, who knocked out the top seed Wang Po-Wei 21-11, 21-17
