Its Day 3 tomorrow at Australian Open Super Series & quarter finals will be in motion. Day 2 didn’t bring much joy for Indian fans with World no. 4 K.Srikanth & Commonwealth Gold medalist pair of Jwala Gutta & Ashwini Ponappa losing out in the 2nd round. World no-1 Saina Nehwal also faced a tough challenge from Sun Yu of China with the Chinese taking 2nd set before losing the match in the final set. Here are 5 matches which fans should not miss out on Day 3.
- Saina Nehwal v/s Wang Shixian- Saina Nehwal managed to avoid Sun in her match, but she has another Chinese to deal with in the form of World no. 5 Wang Shixian. Saina is defending her title here & it’s not going to be easy, with both players having met 6 times in the past, each winning 3 a piece. They last met in BWF Super Series Finals where the Indian won in straight sets.
- Carolina Marin v/s Wang Yihan– It’s the battle of All England Badminton Champion Carolina Marin of Spain against Olympic silver medalist Wang Yihan of China. The duo is on the top of the game and will fight for every point as the winner gets a place in semis. Marin & Wang had 2 encounters in the past & they both won 1 match each.
- Victor Axelson v/s B. Ponsana- It’s the battle of two giant killers, both of them having reached quarters after defeating much higher ranked players. On day 1 Victor Axelson pulled one of the biggest upsets of the tournament by defeating World no. 2 Lin Dan of China while B. Ponsana defeated World no. 5 Wan Hu of Korea. The duo has never met in past.
- Rajiv Ouseph v/s Tian Houwei- World no-29 Rajiv Ouseph shocked all when he defeated World no-13 Chou Tien Chen of Taipei in a 3 set battle in Men’s singles on day 2. Tian Houwei also defeated World no. 4 K. Srikanth of India in a 3 set match. Both the players defeated much higher ranked players in their matches, so get ready for a mouth watering clash tomorrow.
- Lee Yong Dae/Yo Yeon Seong v/s H Endo/ K Hayakawa- World no. 1 Korean pair of L Yong Dae & Y. Yeon Seong faces World no. 6 Japanese pair of H.Endo & K Hayakawa in the quarters. Both pairs met each other twice in past each winning 1 match.