World badminton champion Chen Jin became the second big name to be shown the door at the All-England Open when he suffered a startling second-round collapse on Thursday.
Chen unaccountably crumbled after achieving a second game lead of 18-11 against Marc Zwiebler, slipping to a 21-18, 22-20 defeat.
It was a good opportunity missed because the shock defeat of Taufik Hidayat, the second seeded former Olympic champion from Indonesia, had opened up a path to the semi-finals for the sixth-seeded Chen.
However, just as he was turning the match around he somehow lost his feel, mistakes flowing from his racket, and it allowed a surprisingly relaxed and inspirational opponent to snatch the advantage back.
“I didn’t expect to lose,” Chen said. “But I was not in good form today. I don’t know what happened. I played really bad, especially with my overhead shots.”
Unseeded German Zwiebler, who has been ill and did not feel in his best shape, admitted that he thought the second game was a lost cause and was already thinking about conserving energy for the third.
“But suddenly I started winning points, and when it got close I think he got nervous,” he said.
Zwiebler celebrated by hurling his racket into the crowd — for which he was given a warning by the umpire.
He now has to delay a holiday he had planned to take in Florence with his sister. Instead he would now like to give himself a present of a place in tomorrow’s final, which falls on his 27th birthday.
To achieve that he must first get past a quarter-final with Kazushi Yamada, the young Japanese who ousted Hidayat.
Earlier, Peter Gade, the 34-year-old former All-England Open champion, superbly defied the years to reach the quarter-finals.
Gade did that by saving four crucially important second game points from 16-20 down to win 21-9, 22-20 against Kenichi Tago, the dangerously improving young Japanese player who sensationally reached last year’s final.
An angry Lee Chong Wei walked out without talking to journalists after receiving the shortest of warnings of his impending second round match.
The defending champion from Malaysia only had an hour’s notice of his match with China’s Bao Chunlai, and had to hurry from his hotel and compete without proper preparation. Despite that Lee earned a 21-16, 21-16 win.
There was also a hint of controversy when both the all-Chinese women’s singles failed to materialize.
Top seed Wang Shixian was given a walk-over by her teammate Liu Xin, who complained of a fungal big toe. Then third-seeded Wang Xin, also made the third round without wasting any energy with a walk-over against compatriot Li Xuerui.
Collated women’s singles second round results:
‧ Saina Nehwal (India) beat Tai Tzu-ying (Taiwan) 21-17, 21-17
‧ Juliane Schenk (Germany) beat Cheng Shao-chieh (Taiwan) 21-13, 21-14.
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