Lin Dan, bidding to become the first player ever to win four world singles titles, moved smoothly into the last 16 with another masterfully taken win. The man regarded by many as the greatest of all time was able to play at cruising pace and then move through the gears as he overcame Henri Hurskainen, the world number 49 from Sweden, 21-13, 21-15.
Lin was able to give himself court time by coaxing the shuttle around and develop his ability to control it in difficult, fast conditions - yet still grab quick points when he wanted to. When Hurskainen displayed several different attacking options to recover from a three-point deficit to 15-15 in the second game, Lin fashioned a long, lung-testing rally in which he moved his opponent all round the court.
That had the desired effect of draining the spirited Hurskainen's resources, enabling Lin to take six successive points and the match. "It was not an easy match because I had never met him before, and I didn't know what his level was," Lin said. "After winning the first game I lost my patience a little in the second."
But Hurskainen had a different view. "I was happy with the way I played and yet I always felt like I was a step behind," he said. "He has to be the greatest player of all time." It moved Lin closer to a rematch with his compatriot Bao Chunlai, the man who surprisingly ended his defence of the All-England Open title in Birmingham in March. Bao was due to play David Snider of Canada.
"We know each other very well," said Lin. "Now I shall have a rest and then continue my preparation." In the same half of the draw there was a scare for Taufik Hidayat, a former winner of the World and Olympic titles. The fifth-seeded Indonesian had to dig deep in the second game before surviving 19-21, 21-19, 21-19 against Hsieh Yu Tsin, the world number 24 from Taiwan.
With Simon Santoso, the eighth seed, withdrawing with a bad back and giving a walk-over to another Taiwanese player, Hsueh Hsuan Yi, it left Hidayat as the only Indonesian men's singles player left. Earlier Sony dwi Kuncoro had also pulled out with an injury. Later there was an on court surprise, when Kenichi Tago, who became the first Japanese men's singles player to reach an All-England final in almost half a century, was beaten. The 12th seed was unable to control the shuttle well enough on the big points at the end of each game and went down 22-20, 21-19 to the improving world number 29 from Thailand, Tanongsak Saensomboonsak.
Comments
Comments are closed.