AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2016 R16 – China’s mixed bag of tricks

The European challenge ended first in mixed doubles at the 2016 Australian Badminton Open with big upsets for young Chinese stars, including Chen Qingchen and Zheng Siwei.

By Aaron Wong, Badzine Correspondent live in Sydney.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

A gamut of mixed doubles matches filled all four courts from the get go on Day 3 of the 2016 Australian Badminton Open and all the established pairs apart from China’s Huang/Lu struggled or had to overcome the deficit of a handful of points against relaxed yet zealous opponents.

No matter whether the higher-ranked pairs were Chinese, Indonesian, Danish or British, they all felt the pressure of playing opponents they’d never met until today or ones not under the pressure of preparing for the Rio Olympic Games.

Last year’s runners-up and fourth seeded Bao Yixin / Liu Cheng came through in three games against Malaysians Lai Pei Jing / Tan Kian Meng 21-9, 19-21, 21-11 but their European counterparts from the top 10, England’s Gabrielle Adcock / Chris Adcock and Denmark’s Christinna Pedersen / Joachim Fischer- Nielsen (pictured right) were both knocked out in straight games.

Energy saving, hyperactive or free–flowing fun – take your pick

Young or fresh Chinese pairs don’t all play the same. The tensed up Danes were brought down by the patient rallying propensity of Tang Jinhua / Liu Yuchen (pictured top) 21-18, 21-16. Tang makes everything she does look unrushed, from smash returns to court coverage to tactics. Her astute choices don’t overtire her, she doesn’t rely on fine calibration, yet she produces effective outcomes like gaps for her partner to exploit or her own winners – some people make it look so easy.

“The Danish are known to hit powerfully so we knew our defences must be up to the task and we must find a way to gain control of the shuttle,” said Liu about his side’s priority.

On the other hand, the hyperactive pair of Chen Qingchen / Zheng Siwei (pictured bottom) accounted for the Adcocks with both running down Chris’s smashes and rushing towards the net to kill net shots rather than lightly brush them over.

“We played just like we normally do but there are problem areas we’d discussing between ourselves,” remarked Zheng Siwei.

Of the Indonesians, Debby Susanto / Praveen Jordan managed to do the job in straight games against Singaporeans while Richi Puspita Dili / Riky Widianto (pictured left) needed advice from their coach, former World Champion Nova Widianto, on how to counter the free flowing fun antics of Line Kjaersfeldt / Kim Astrup to claw back in the nick of time and win 14-21, 23-21, 21-14.

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