Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Thomas Laybourn are the first of two remaining Danish mixed doubles to be through to the semifinals in Denmark Open. That became evident today after a comfortable victory against eighth-seeded Songphon and Kunchala from Thailand. It has been a rocky road so far for the Danish couple with tough matches against two unseeded Russian couples but today the former world champions felt, that that they were back on track.
-In theory, we were up against the best couple so far in the tournament, but we neutralized their game really well. We have improved day by day and today we played our best match so far in Denmark Open, Thomas Laybourn says.
Kamilla Rytter Juhl agreed with her partner and revealed, that the two Danes were having fun on court today.
-A lot of things went well for us today and it is almost a shame that we only played two sets. When it is going that well, you just can’t get enough,
In the semifinal the Danes will be facing second-seeded Vita Marissa and Hendra Gunawan from Indonesia. And Juhl and Laybourn believe that they have a good chance to reach the final.
-It was a short match today, so hopefully we will be even more ready for tomorrow.
We go after the titles and it is a bonus to be able to win them on home ground, Thomas Laybourn says.
Robertson/Wallwork beat top-seeded Polish couple
So far favourites like Peter Gade and Tine Baun have left the tournament and today another big profile had an early exit from Denmark Open. The top-seeded Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Zieba were surprisingly beat by Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork from England in a close three set match 21-14 17-21 22-20.
-We played at our top level today and when we do that it is good enough to trouble all the best pairs. The Polish are top seeded in this tournament, so it’s a great win for us, Robertson says.
Earlier in the tournament the English couple expressed not having great expectation after being worn out because of their recent participance in the Commonwealth Games. But after today’s match, the Englishmen have regained some confidence.
-We hope to go as far as possible now. Yes, we were a bit tired, but as we go we have gained some confidence. Hopefully we can carry on and play our best tomorrow, Wallwork says.
Another surprise almost occured in the match between second seeded Hendra Gunawan/Vita Marissa from Indonesia and the German couple Michael Fuchs and Birgit Overzier. The Indonesian favourites got off to a good start and won the first set, but the Germans kept fighting and managed to get the match in to three sets.
In the third set it was close up till the middle of the set, where Gunawan and Marissa raised the bar and closed the match, securing themselves participation in tomorrow’s semifinals against Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Thomas Laybourn.
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