The quarter-final between Camilla Martin and Mia Audina was a great fight, until the Indonesian born Dutch player pulled a muscle - then it was a one sided match.

Martin will play a rematch of last year's final against Zhou Mi in the semi-final later today.

Camilla Martin might have not appreciated Mia Audina''s attitude at the end of the match, yet she should be very satisfied with her victory over the 22-year-old Dutch girl, because it sure wasn't an easy task: both players had met many times, and they had about the same number of victories each.

But Camilla always does well in front of her home crowd: in spite of a slow start, the thin Dane got back from 2/6 to 6/6 in the first game, to eventually win 8/6. All around the arena, the crowd was shouting for their favourite. But Mia Audina's round-the-head low clears and good net play provided her with the second game. Unfortunately for the Dutch shuttler, she pulled her calf muscle. On a few occasions, she asked for a short break to stretch, then she called the doctor to put on a bandage.

But the damage was done: what had been a beautiful match so far had become a nightmare for Audina, whose movement on court was getting worse and worse as Camilla Martin was playing better. Led 7/8, 7/5, 0/7, 0/5, Audina withdrew, leaving the road widefor Camilla to enter the semi-final.

"I knew that she would take some time between points when she got hurt, but I tried to stay focused. On the overall match, I'm glad with the way I played, except in the second game where I did everything I was not supposed to do. The most important thing is to be in the semi-final," said Martin (pictured), who had to rush from one interview to another, before going for a doping test and a VIP meeting.

Martin will play Zhou Mi for a rematch of the 2000 Danishfinal, and will hope for a different ending. But in her quarter-final match, the strong Chinese was threatened by her former compatriot, Yao Jie, now playing for the Netherlands. Zhou Mi had to push her talent to a fifth game to take it away, and looked quite exhausted after the battle.

Second seed Zhang Ning did not make it to the semi-final stage. The young Pi Hongyan once again did really well in front of her host crowd - she plays for a Danish club in Greve. It only took three games for the young Chinese to wrap it up. "I tried my best, and I could play well because I had no pressure. I was aiming at the quarter-final, and this is even better," said Pi (pictured). She is to meet Hu Ting, the third Chinese, who finished the Dutch dream of having a women's singles player in the semi-final of a 6* event. Judith Meulendijks gave a great fight but the tiny Chinese was able to speed up the game at a pace the Dutch just couldn't follow.

Wong and the young Chinese guards

There had to be a Malaysian player in the semi-final, as Wong Choong Hann was playing his compatriot Ayob, but as they joked in the bus, the match looked more like an exhibition. Wong was way above his opponent, even if there were some well disputed points. But the main fact of the day was the tremendous play by all three young Chinese players.

Bao Chunlai (pictured) for once started off really quickly against Pullela Gopichand, and was never really threatened by the soft spoken Indian. The 1m86 young Chinese even challenged his opponent at the net, which is one of Gopichand''s well known weapons. His fast attacks did the rest, for a 7/3, 7/2, 5/7, 7/1 victory. A few minutes later, his friend Lin Dan didn''t give many more points to veteran Ong Ewe Hock: the talented former Asian Junior Champion fought with rage and precision. Chen Yu made it three Chinese in the last four. He beat Johan Hadikusuma in a very pleasant match. Xia Xuanze and Ji Xinpeng might not be here, but the young guards are coming on strong.

"We tried to bring as many players as we could, but it is very difficult, because most of the players are preparing for the Chinese National Games, that are being held every four years; It is like the Olympics for us, and all players represent their provinces, this is why some were reluctant to let them go to Denmark. On the other hand, we are friends with the Danish badminton association and we wanted to come to participate in the event. Yet I think that all these young players have shown that they should be in the top world ranking in few months from now," explained Bao Tong, the Chinese team manager.

Eriksen and Larsen survive an English scare

England fans could have had a great day, if only Nathan Robertson and Anthony Clark had killed one of the two match points they had in the fourth game, when they were leading 6/5. Jens Eriksen mis-shot few times in the rally, yet destiny had decided otherwise, and Larsen and Eriksen will go on for at least another round. In a spectacular match, with incredible reflex defences on both sides, the Danes just played one or two important points better than their opponents. The English pair chose not to set to 8, and lost 7/6. And after losing the game in which they had two match points, they seemed to lose confidence and didn't put on the same kind of fight they had shown up until then, for a final 7/2, 7/5, 6/7, 0/7, 0/7 defeat.

They will play their compatriots Sogaard/Laugesen who brilliantly qualified against Indonesia's Haryanto and Luluk. The other semi-final will be a mouth watering bout featuring Lars Paaske and Martin Lundgaard Hansen against titleholders Eng Hian and Flandi Limpele, who will be leaving to train with the English team right after the Danish "It is a three month try out with us. If they like it, they might join the team for good," said Rexy Mainaky, the Indonesian born English coach (pictured here advising his compatriots).

In the women's doubles, the Danes did quite well and secured three pairs in the last four. Nicole Grether and Nicole Pitro of Germany on the bottom half and the Vita/Lomban combination from Indonesia will try to threaten Denmark's ruling in the category.

In the mixed doubles, on the other hand, the Danes were definitely kicked out of the event, as Mette Schjoldager and Jens Eriksen lost to Trikus Haryanto and Emma Ermawati. The Indonesian pair will meet Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms, who have never played better than these past few days. The final will be played on Saturday, one day earlier than all other events.

On court now....

Results:
Men's Singles (top half)
Men's Singles (bottom half)
Men's Singles Qualifying
Women's Singles
Women's Singles Qualifying
Men's Doubles
Men's Doubles Qualifying
Women's Doubles
Mixed Doubles

Report and pictures by Raphael Sachetat