Favourites going through and favourites suffering surprising defeats was on the menu today here in Odense as we found out who will be playing in tomorrow’s quarter-finals 

The crowd here in Odense went through the entire gamut of emotions as the day three of DANISA DENMARK OPEN presented by VICTOR passed. Joy, sadness, at the edge of shock and fear just to name a few. 

In men’s doubles, Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan made it into the quarters as they defeated Hendra Setiawan/Boon Heong Tan but the match got closer than expected. The Chinese favourites won in three games 15-21, 21-18, 21-15.

One of the matches today that really brought out a lot of emotional outbursts from the crowd was another men’s doubles match. Local heroes Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen took on Or Chin Chung/Tang Chun Man from Hong Kong China.

Click here to see all of the today’s results from DANISA DENMARK OPEN presented by VICTOR!

After having had several game points in the first game Boe/Mogensen lost it 21-23 before winning the next 21-8 compelling a deciding game. From being down most of the game the Danes made quite a comeback winning 21-19.

- It was willpower and a lot of hart that made it possible for us to make a comeback. We looked each other in the eyes and decided to try to catch up with them and take it all the way home. Sometimes you succeed in these comebacks and sometimes you don’t. Today we succeeded and of course, we’re very happy about that, says Mathias Boe.

In mixed doubles, we had the biggest surprise of the day and also the longest game. French Ronan Labar/Audrey Fontaine were up against world no. two Lu Kai/Huang Yaqiong from China. The match didn’t get that much attention at first but when the French won the first game 21-19 the crowd started getting interested as the surprise was lurking.

As opposed to the first game the second one got all the attention from the crowd. After several missed French match point and Chinese game points, the score was 29-29 and Labar was serving to Huang.

- At 29-29 I actually chose the easiest serve. I served to the T because that’s the one that feels most confident and it was a bit more relaxed that it was to the girl than the boy. I said to myself: “okay, don’t play an amazing serve but a good serve” and then we were really clear about which options we were taking. It was like poker, Labar laughed after the match, and Fontaine added.

- It was down to that one point, and we had to try something at this one to win. 

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In men’s singles, we got yet another surprise as Lee Chong Wei was sent packing his bags by Prannoy from India with the score 21-17, 11-21, 21-19 in Prannoy’s favour. 

In women’s singles, Beiwen Zhang and Akane Yamaguchi gave quite a show as they played a long and impressive match. At the end, Yamaguchi came out victorious as she won 21-23, 21-15, 21-14.

The women’s doubles category was also able to deliver both expected and unexpected wins. Danish Kamilla Rytter Juhl/Christinna Pedersen won after a match that got closer than expected against Stefani and Gabriela Stoeva from Bulgaria.

The Danes won 21-18, 14-21, 23-21 after saving three Bulgarian match points. At 20-20 in the third game, Rytter Juhl received medical assistance after hurting her knee but let’s keep our fingers crossed that she’ll be able to play in tomorrow’s quarters. 

Click here to see the schedule of play for tomorrow’s quarter-finals at DANISA DENMARK OPEN presented by VICTOR!

The World Champion and World No. one Viktor Axelsen is also through to the quarter-final after defeating Wei Nan 17-21, 21-10, 23-21. So is the second-seeded Son Wan Ho after a 20-22, 21-14, 21-18 victory against another home-court favourite Anders Antonsen.

The favourites leaving the tournament wasn’t the only surprise we got today in Odense. Unfortunately, we had some troubles with the TV-light on one of the courts caused some delay in the today’s schedule of play.

We’re hoping that everything works according to plan tomorrow when the quarter-finals at DANISA DENMARK OPEN presented by VICTOR are here. The doors to Odense Idrætshal open at 2.30 PM and the play begins at 3.30 PM.

We hope to see you here for some amazing badminton with some of the greatest players in the world!