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Chinese girls not afraid of European "Heights"
October 05, 2001 - Source : IBF
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 Pi Hongyan and Xu Huaiwen had to play two of the tallest girls on the world circuit: Brenda Beenhakker and Sweden's Marina Andrievskaya, both over 1m 80.
But height alone was not enough today at the Rhein Ruhr Halle, for the Germanquarter finals - top seed Marina Andrievskaya learned it at her own expense, leaving the honour of defending European colours to Elena Nozdran, alone against three Chinese players.
“I was unstable at first because Marina was taking the centre court and was making me move around, but I changed my tactics to put her at the back,” said a delighted Xu, after her game. “I knew how to play her as I had beaten her in the Swissearlier this year.”
This was back in March, before the 26-year-old from Szechuan province returned home for a four-month training period. She returned to her club of Friedrichshafen, in Germany on September 11th.
It didn''t start off very well for the Chinese, who easily lost the first game 7/1, to an imperial Andrievskaya, but Xu soon realised that she couldn''t run around the court like this forever and she started putting more speed in her shuttles. “I told myself I had to be patient and attack at the right times. I also had no pressure on my shoulders, as she was the top seed. I had nothing to lose,” added the Chinese.
The next three games were to go the other way around, with the Swede eager to finish up points – making mistakes - and the Chinese defending in the most aggressive manner, finally winning 1/7 - 7/3 - 7/5 - 7/5.
Xu had participated in the Toulouselast year, and the BMWhere in Germany, which she had both won. But her best performance so far was a final in the Swiss as mentioned earlier. She was then beaten by Pi Hongyan. A fate that might happen again as the other young Chinese jewel passed through the quarter-final stage with ease against Brenda Beenhakker. The Dutch girl completely missed her first two games, pushing her luck to finish points fast, but she committed many mistakes leading to an early 7/1 - 7/0 lead by the Chinese. In the third game, Beenhakker showed some of the talent which had brought her the Frenchtitle but it wasn''t good enough against Pi''s agility and accuracy.
Elena Nozdran will be Europe’s only hope in the final four, as Zeng Yaqiong took the same road as her compatriots, after beating Anu Weckstrom of Finland. The latter did more than just resist, as she even took one game from the Chinese. But Zeng kept up the pressure and committed very few mistakes, bringing the shuttle back on court at all times.
Zeng will meet Ukrainian Nozdran, the number two seed of the event, who beat Germany’s last hope in the name of Katja Michalowsky. “We play very often one against each other in the Bundesliga, at least 4 or 5 times every season, and I have beaten her for the last few times so I felt confident,” said the 26-year-old Ukrainian, based in Luxembourg, where her husband lives. “Now once again I am in the semi-final of this and once again I play a Chinese girl. I just hope to do my best tomorrow,” added Nozdran.
In the mixed doubles event - which was the other event played this morning in Duisburg, while all others were scheduled to be played in the evening session, Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen cruised on to the semi-final without forcing their talent; A little lack of concentration led them to lose the first game to Jeffrey/Rayappan of England, but when everything was back in order, the Danes took it home in four games. But the nicest match of the category featured another English pair, Ella Miles and Ian Palethorpe – rather new at this stage of such a big European event - against Matthias Boe and Majken Vange from Denmark. Boe and Vange had beaten the number two seeds Bergstrom/Karlsson in a never-ending match, while Palethorpe and Miles also had their time of glory in the tournament when they had beaten 5/8th seeds Tesche/Hoenscheid of Germany in the first round.
And the fight, as expected, was a tough one, with the English saving 4 match points before taking the third game. They saved another four in the fourth game, led 2/6, but Matthias Boe''s impressive left hand smashes allowed the team to breath in the ninth match point. Boe and Vange will meet Michael Lamp and Ann-Lou Jorgesen while Sogaard/Olsen will take on Siegemund/Pitro, who left little chance to Maja and Andrej Pohar, much to the home crowd''s delight.
Women’s singles:
Xu Huaiwen (CHN) beats Marina Andrievskaya (SWE) : 1/7 - 7/3 - 7/5 - 7/5.
Pi Hongyan (CHN) beats Brenda Beenhakker (NED) : 7/1 - 7/0 - 7/5
Zeng Yaqiong (CHN) beats Anu Weckstrom (FIN) : 6/8 - 7/2 - 7/3 - 7/3
Elena Nozdran (UKR) beats Katja Michalowsky (GER) : 7/3 - 7/1 - 3/7 - 7/1
Mixed doubles:
Sogaard/Olsen (DEN) beat Jeffrey / Rayappan (ENG) : 3/7 - 7/1 - 7/1 - 7/3
Siegemund/Pitro (GER) beat Pohar/Pohar (SLO) : 7/3 - 7/1 - 7/4
Lamp / Jorgensen (DEN) beat Hopp/Piotrowsky (GER) : 4/7 - 7/4 - 7/2 - 8/7
Boe/Vange (DEN) beat Miles/Palethorpe (ENG) : 7/2 - 8/6 - 6/8 - 7/4
report and pictures by Raphael Sachetat
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Other news:
» Zhou captures women's singles crown in thriller
» Three Thai doubles pairs sent packing
» Thais go down in mixed doubles
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