BWF World Championship 2018 LIVE: Chen – Viktor delivered a nail-biting duel

Chinese legend Chen Long avenged his loss, from last season’s semifinals, against world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen in the quarterfinals at the 2018 BWF World Championship in Nanjing, China.

It took Chen almost an hour to defeat the Dane in straight sets at 21-19, 21-11.

Starting with an early 4-0 lead, the 35-year-old Chen, with disappointments and accurate judgments from the baseline, dominated the plays with all his experience on the 24-year-old to seal the opener.

In the second game, Chen never let Viktor catch up with him and kept the huge gap at the pinnacle point.

Earlier, Chinese third seed Shi Yuqi entered the Semifinals after losing a three-setter in the round of 16 against Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in the 72-minute contest.

The Chinese who were able to win the first game with a 14-11 lead, were left stranded as their opponent cruised to 7 straight points and the game.

In the second game, Shi improved on the points from 6-4 to 13-4, but Chou somehow managed to catch his opponent with a score of 14-16.

Shi played a lazy game with the big point difference against the Taipei player. However, third seed Shi turned gears to level the score at 16-16, followed by winning three points in a row.

Chou could make another point before succumbing to the Chinese.

What an incredible victory for World No. 3 and Indian Olympic winner PV Sindhu, who put in a sensational performance against Japanese powerhouse Nozomi Okuhara. The nail-biting 58-minute match was a series of interesting plays, cross drops, ferocious backhands and tactfully deceptive shots.

Sindhu’s utter confidence and composure on the court outweighed Nozomi’s wit and tact as the talented champion finished the match with a winning score of 21-17, 21-19. In both sets, Nozomi was strong enough to beat the Indian opponent, however Sindhu’s patience and psychological reading worked well in her favor as she got into the flow and acted smartly.

In men’s singles, Sai Praneeth played well but went down giving Japanese master Kento Momoto a good run in a 38-minute head-to-head duel. Sai Praneeth lost the game on a score of 21-12, 21-12.

It really is a good day for Chinese mixed doubles players as they penned the winningest quarterfinal at the 2018 BWF World Championships in Nanjing, China.

Zhang Nan and Li Yinhui, the lower seeds, defeated Mathias Christiansen and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark 21-15, 22-20 in a match that lasted 53 minutes.

The Chinese trailing in the first half of the opening game at 7-11 raced into the lead with 6 straight points in a row to take the game on their account. And the second game was a melee, which was justified by the Chinese.

In another mixed doubles match, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa ended their challenge after losing to Chinese seeds Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong 17-21, 10-21 in the quarterfinals.

Satwik and Ashwini are the only seeded pair remaining in the mixed doubles event who never had a chance to bounce back on court early on.

2017 world runner-up Zheng was in fine form at the back of the court, while Yaqiong was very aggressive at net. The cohesive pairing played well mixing up the pace from behind and at net.

With all her experience, Ashwini focused on the game, while the teenage Satwik betrayed some nerves with a couple of serve fouls and overhit smashes in the opening game. But as the match progressed, the junior recovered well, helping the senior narrow the gap to 17-18.

Later, a serve error by Satwik cost him the game.

There was one-way traffic from the top seeds, who pulled out a slim 11-4 lead. The Chinese pair closed the game with a comfortable win on Satwik’s errors once again.

In another match, English duo Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock lost to Chinese stars Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping 13-21, 18-21 in a 44-minute match.

The highlight of the match was the crushing battle between the teams.

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