Taiwan’s World No. 2 Chou Tien-chen on Saturday crashed out of the men’s semi-finals at the Danisa Denmark Open, losing two straight games to World No. 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark.
The second-seeded Chou started off mixing defense and attack effectively, covering the court to hit some impressive angles, but began to fall apart in the second half of the first game, when the third-seeded Antonsen found his form.
The Dane did well playing backhand defense, while also bringing himself to play earlier at the net, forcing Chou to make errors.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The Taiwanese shuttler showed some superb net play, delivering hard smashes going for the right hip of his opponent, giving Antonsen only split seconds to decide whether to play forehand defense or continue with the backhand, albeit awkward either way.
However, it was Antonsen’s sheer energy that showed he was ready to pounce early at the net every time, forcing Chou into making errors and giving the first game 17-21 to the Dane.
Chou seemed to lose his confidence in the second game as Antonsen dominated the net, hiking the score to 9-15, just six points away from wrapping up the match.
Although Chou tried to put up a fight, it proved futile against Antonsen’s clever play, which interchanged between body and angle smashes.
Chou eventually lost the match 15-21 in the second game.
The loss brought the pair’s head-to-head record to 7-2, with the Taiwanese ace still in the lead.
Chou’s defeat means that the men’s final this year would be an all-Danish affair, with Antonsen yesterday facing seventh-seeded, world No. 17 Rasmus Gemke.
Spearheading Taiwan’s campaign in the tournament, Chou had defeated Victor Svendsen of Denmark 21-16, 21-11; Nhat Nguyen of Ireland 21-18, 21-16; and Srikanth Kidambi of India 20-22, 21-13, 21-16.
The Badminton World Federation World Tour Super 750 Danisa Denmark Open, held from Tuesday last week to yesterday at the Odense Sports Park, carried a total purse of US$750,000.
The Denmark Open marked the return of international badminton after nearly all international tournaments were canceled or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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