Crowd favourite PV Sindhu tops group at Dubai World Superseries Finals, Viktor Axelsen keeps hopes alive

Sport360 staff 23:18 15/12/2017
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  • Fan favourite: PV Sindhu won on Friday evening.

    It was not always pretty but Viktor Axelsen kept his hopes of second successive Dubai World Superseries Finals title alive on Friday evening, resisting a dogged challenge from Chou Tien Chen in their last round-robin match.

    His 21-16 14-21 21-15 triumph secured his semi-final berth in the Men’s Singles competition of the million-dollar season finale which he won a year ago but the imposing Dane acknowledged it was a patchy performance.

    “I didn’t start well but I managed to step up at the end of the first game. I am happy about that. However, we were both up and down. Physically, I didn’t feel really good so I am happy to be through,” said the 23-year- old world No.1 player.

    Essentially a knockout battle, the Group B encounter swung one way, then the next and back as both athletes struggled for consistency, fluctuating from a string of amazing strokes to erratic and uncertain patches.

    At one game each, Axelsen surged to the front early in the decider, changing over with a four-point lead. He lengthened that to 13-8 when a call by the umpire – that the shuttle was ‘dead’ before Axelsen touched the net – brought the match to a brief stalemate with Chou inconsolable about the decision.

    However, gentlemanly Axelsen deliberately gifted the next point to his opponent to right the situation as spectators applauded loudly. His sense of fair play, though, did not prove costly as the defending champion rattled off another burst of points to close the proceedings.

    Meanwhile, China’s Shi Yuqi topped the group with an unblemished 3-0 record, beating Kidambi Srikanth, 21-17 19-21 21-14; the Indian star ending the year disappointingly, having lost every match in Dubai. In Group A, Lee Chong Wei inexplicably capitulated from 16-6 in the second game – having wrested the first –to be beaten 13-21 22-20 21-15 by Korea’s Son Wan Ho. The result left Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long out in the cold in the three-man cluster (with Chen Long having withdrawn), despite his win over Son on Thursday.

    Dane Axelsen was made to work hard for victory.

    In Men’s Doubles, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo stayed in contention with a gritty 19-21 21-16 21-18 victory over Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen of China to reach the semi-finals. It has not been the best of weeks for the well-oiled Indonesian machinery but the dynamic duo has found a way to survive, even with Gideon being hampered by a troublesome strain down his left side from his neck to his back.

    Two other evening matches saw Pusarla V Sindhu dominate Akane Yamaguchi (21-9 21-13) to top Women’s Singles Group A while Zheng Siwei/Chen Qingchen assured themselves of similar ranking in Mixed Doubles Group A.

    The Indian star ran rampant from the outset, never letting her bemused Japanese opponent into the 36 minute match while Zheng/Chen conquered Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet (Hong Kong), 21-10 21-18, in 29 minutes.

    In earlier matches Chinese teen Chen Yufei grabbed a semi-final from defending champion Tai Tzu Ying with a hard-fought 21-18 13-21 21-18 win over Ratchanok Intanon, while another defending champion to exit the event was Women’s Doubles duo Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan (China), who crashed to their second defeat in Group A.

    In Mixed Doubles, China’s Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping finished on top of Group B with a 21-9 11-21 21-11 result over Indonesia’s Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir.

    England’s 2015 Dubai champions Chris Adcock/Gabrielle Adcock earned a consolation win over Malaysia’s Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing, 21-13 21-16, to finish third in Group B. Japan’s Kenta Kazuno/Ayane Kurihara did the same in Group A, finishing third after beating Indonesia’s Praveen Jordan/Debby Susanto 21-13 21-17.

    In Men’s Doubles, World champions Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan enjoyed a comfortable 21-18 21-13 victory over Denmark’s Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen to finish on top of Group B.

    Much the same pattern was seen in Women’s Doubles Group B, with Denmark’s Christinna Pedersen/Kamilla Rytter Juhl falling in just 37 minutes – 21-12 21-12 – to Japan’s Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota in their final group match. Both pairs had already qualified to the semi-finals with two wins each.

    In the same group, Korea’s Jung Kyung Eun/Shin Seung Chan finished their group assignments with their first win, over Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Ya Ching/Wu Ti Jung, 21-9 17-2.

    The semi-finals will be played on Saturday from 10am-3pm and 4pm- 9pm. The finals will be played on Sunday from 1pm -8pm.

    Tickets are on sale at https://dubai.platinumlist.net/ and are also available at the door. For all information about the event visit www.dubaisuperseriesfinals.ae.

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