Copenhagen Masters 2009 - Palyama stops Gade, Jorgensen through
News 3:48 PM
Peter Gade’s incredible run of five consecutive titles at the Copenhagen Masters came to an end on the second day of the tournament after a surprise defeat to Dutch-born Dicky Palyama.
Jan Jorgensen made sure at least one Dane would be in the men’s singles final after a solid win over Indonesia's Simon Santoso. Lydia Cheah was the author of the other big upset of the day when she qualified for the finals after disposing of Yao Jie. CPHMasters2-boe-mogensen
Very few people would have correctly predicted that the only Dane to lose to a player from another country on Day 2 of the Copenhagen Masters would be nine-time champion Peter Gade but that’s exactly what happened. Dicky Palyama repeated his 2007 All England feat and once again defeated Europe’s best player in a tough 58-minute three-setter.
Everything seemed to work for the Dutchman in the first set: precise smashes and flawless net play earned him the first set 21-16. The Dane fought back to win the second 21-15 but his game once again began to crumble against Palyama’s superior play in all departments. The Dutch concluded the match with a 21-15 result in the ultimate set.
The defeated reigning champion, though obviously disappointed, greeted the reporters with philosophical words: “You know, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, you have a bad day. Today was just one of those days. Dicky played fantastic and I just couldn’t keep the rhythm. I thought it would be a matter of time before he went down but Dicky made all the right choices at the right moments and is one of those players who knows how to break my rhythm”.
“I know Peter’s attack is better than his defence so I made sure to reach the net as soon as possible in order to have him lift the shuttle”, analyzed Palyama after the game. This is the first time I am qualifying for the finals of this tournament and I’m looking forward to play tomorrow. For the sake of the Danish crowd, it would be fun to meet Jorgensen in tomorrow’s final but otherwise it doesn’t matter as both opponents have a style that suits my game.” CPHMasters2=lydia
The Dutchman got his wish when Jorgensen treated the crowd with a convincing win over the reigning Denmark Open champion, Simon Santoso of Indonesia 21-17 21-16.
Women’s singles was also the scene of an interesting upset after Yao Jie surprisingly went down to Lydia Cheah of Malaysia 15-21, 20-22. The Malaysian, who will be the only Asian competing on finals day of the competition, showed a lot of maturity and control during the tight second set in which neither player never led by more than two points.
“I feel great”, simply said the 20-year old Malaysia after her win. “At first,Yao caught me with a lot of deceptive shots so I knew I had to be more patient. She might be more experienced than me but I’m younger and I have more energy and that’s why I never gave up. As the match progressed, my confidence grew but I knew I had to be cautious of not being too eager to win by trying to end the rallies too quickly. My strategy worked and this might just be the biggest win of my career as well as a big step forward in the right direction”.
In the other semi-final of the event, reigning champion Tine Rasmussen crushed an uninspired Ella Diehl 21-9, 21-9.
The men’s doubles will be an all-Danish affair as last year’s finalists will be back to face each other once again. Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen completely dominated Olympic champions Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia in two rather quick sets.
“We are really eager to win this tournament and get our revenge from last year’s defeat against compatriots (Lars) Paaske and (Jonas) Rasmussen, said Boe. We know the Indonesians can play much better than they did today but a win is still a win. Maybe their motivation wasn’t as high as ours because they were just content with lifting the shuttle”. CPHMasters2-poland-xd
Paaske and Rasmussen, the other qualifying finalists, were cruising against youngsters Mak Hee Chun and Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia until Tan requested to stop play due to injury. Play was stopped when the Danes were only two theoretical points away from victory at 21-10, 19-13.
The dramatic and exciting action of the mixed doubles semi-finals will most certainly not make the organizers of the tournament regret their choice to include the event on this year’s program. The first semi-final, despite a rather convincing 21-13, 21-18 score in favour of reigning world champions Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl, was the theatre of a continuous and intense psychological battle between both teams.
Not only shuttlecocks but also words were exchanged during the entire match. The encounter ended on a false note when, on match point, a shuttle hit by Rytter Juhl was ruled good despite appearing to be out of court. Kristiansen and Pedersen at first refused to concede the match to their opponents but finally shook their hands after protesting in vain to the umpire.
2009 Hong Kong Open Super Series winners Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Kostiuczyk had their work cut out against two-time world champions Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir. In what was the most exciting encounter of the day, the Poles had to work 65 minutes to overcome the Asians 21-18, 19-21, 26-24.
As the score suggests, the third set was an absolute thriller with neither team leading by more than a point from 6-6 to 23-23. The crowd, rallying behind the Europeans, got involved in every rally and especially enjoyed Mateusiak’s quick reflexes and rushes to the net. Mateusiak will be playing in his first Copenhagen Masters final, despite having previsouly played twice at this tournament in men’s doubles.
In a small ceremony, Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl were designated Players of 2009 by the Danish Badminton Association.
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 3:48 PM.
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