This Friday evening Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen managed to defeat the Korean pair, Ko Sung Hyun and Kim Ha Na, in a match that had everything. Only in the end the Danes managed to win by 21-14 / 10-21 / 30-29.

The head of tournament here in Odense had made a clever decision by placing a very certain match on the TV court this Friday night. That certain match was the mixed doubles match between Danish pair Joachim Fischer/Christinna Pedersen and Korean pair Ko Sung Hyun and Kim Ha Na.

The setting was perfect. The two other courts in Odense Sports Park were no longer being used, and the only remaining matches of the night were to be played on court no. 1, the TV court. That went for this mixed doubles match as well.

A decider was needed
After a superb Danish first game, which Fischer and Pedersen won convincingly by 21-14, the Korean side responded by winning the following game by 21-10, sending the match into three games. And what a third game that would eventually turn out to be.

Just after the interval in the third game, the Koreans took the lead. They were ahead until they got 20 points, but then something happened.

Breathtaking end
Fischer and Pedersen, who at that time were trailing by five points, ate their way back into the match. They won the following five rallies and levelled the score at 20-20, which sent the match into overtime. From there on the match points went back and forth between the two pairs, until they could go no further scorewise.

At 29-29, the attending guests in Odense Sports Park were as silent as they could possibly be, when the rally was started. But that silence only lasted a few seconds, since Fischer and Pedersen won the point and thereby the match, after having played for incredible 78 minutes in front of a crazy crowd of spectators.

”This is one of the toughest matches I've ever played,” Fischer told us after the victory.

”Mentally it was very challenging with all those match points, but together we managed to stay cool and keep calm when it mattered the most,” he continued.

A memorable match
Joachim Fischer was however still able to muster a joke afterwards, on which occation the 34 year old Dane commented on how the match and the victory is going to affect him.

”I think I'm old enough as it is, but I have to admit, that I'll probably age a bit more after this match. It's a match I'll always remember.”

Not only the Danes were celebrated after the match however. The Koreans also received applause for their performance, in which they gave the audience in the hall what they wanted on a Friday night – world class entertainment.

Danish defeat on court no. 3
Earlier this evening, when the lights on court no. 3 were still on, the reigning world champions of the mixed doubles category, Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir from Indonesia, were playing another Danish pair, namely Anders Kristiansen and Julie Houmann.

Just as predicted, it was the Indonesians who progressed to the semi finals, but the Danes surely put up a fight in order to try to prevent it. They pushed Ahmad and Natsir into overtime in the second game, and missed three games point before losing it. The final score of that match ended 21-10 / 24-22.