It was the match that every badminton fan in Denmark was waiting for, but unfortunately it didn’t turn out in favour for the two Danish girls, Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl. Despite a shouting and cheering home crowd in Odense Idrætshal, the Danes lost the final against Chinese Bao Yixin/Tang Yinhua, 21-16/21-13.
 
They still have to wait till another time to get their first Super Series-title.
 
Good start for the Danes, but then…
It’s often said that women’s double matches are boring and not exciting enough.
But top Danish pair Christinna Pedersen/Kamilla Rytter Juhl and their Chinese opponents in the final at Yonex Denmark Open 2013 proved that it doesn’t always have to be like that.
 
The Danes and the Chinese played a close first game and scored points by turns until the score 7-7. But then the Chinese took four points in a row, leading 11-7 at the break. The Danes managed to keep up until 13-13, but then started making easy mistakes. This gave the Chinese the possibility to pull away and win the game 21-16.
 
Too many easy mistakes
In second game, the Danes still struggled finding their rhythm. The Chinese scored most of the points, leading 10-6 and 12-9 and the Danes couldn’t really keep up. They kept making easy mistakes, while the Chinese opponents kept calm and played with lots of reserves of energy.
Suddenly it went really fast. Leading 17-11 and 20-12 there wasn’t much to do for the Danes, who lost the game 20-13.
 
Reactions from the players
The Chinese pair, who has only been playing one tournament together before Yonex Denmark Open, was surprised to win the tournament.
 
“We didn’t expect to get this success. We still don’t know how fare we can go together”, the Chinese said after their victory.
 
Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl didn’t feel comfortable playing a pair that they have never played before.
 
“We prefer to play against pairs we already know, then we feel more confident. But now we know more about them, so hopefully we take the win next time”, Christinna Pedersen says.
 
“In today’s match we are a step behind all the time, but I think that this tournament over all has given us a great believe in ourselves. When we think about our performing this week, there is a lot of things to be really proud of”, Kamilla Rytter Juhl says.