Thailand and South Korea win through Sudirman Cup semis
GOLD COAST, Australia, May 25, (AFP): Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai clinched a semi-final berth for Thailand at the Sudirman Cup with a final match victory over Denmark on Australia’s Gold Coast on Thursday.
Jongkolphan and Sapsiree handled the pressure to beat Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen 2115, 21-12 in 44 minutes to get the Thais home 3-2 to claim only their second semi-final at the mixed teams Sudirman Cup.
South Korea won the night’s other quarter-final against Chinese Taipei 3-1 and will face Thailand in Saturday’s semi-finals.
The Danes looked set to win through to the semi-finals when Viktor Axelsen won the men’s singles and Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding came out on top in a three-game 68-minute battle in the men’s doubles to lead 2-1.
But Ratchanok Intanon levelled the tie with a 21-15, 21-14 win over Line Kjaersfeldt in the women’s singles heading into the deciding women’s doubles rubber.
South Korea won through to the last four with wins in the men’s doubles, men’s singles and the decisive women’s doubles.
Chang Ye-Na and Lee So-Hee sealed victory for the Koreans in the fourth match with a 21-13, 21-18 win over Hsu Ya Ching and Wu Ti Jung.
In Friday’s quarter-finals, Japan take on Malaysia, while China face India. happy to see an early escape break away from the peloton to go on and build a convincing lead.
It was devoid of any threat to his advantage and allowed him to sit back in the comfort of the peloton.
But with just over 50 km remaining, the tall Dutchman was jolted into action. Quintana raced off the front of their chase group to join Costa Rican team-mate Andrey Amador further up the climb.
Alert to the danger, Nibali followed suit moments later, racing ahead of Dumoulin to join compatriot Dario Cataldo.
But Dumoulin, who completed an impressive solo climb over the formidable Stelvio pass following his toilet mishap on Tuesday, was unruffled.
He dug deep and quickly closed the gap.
As Van Garderen and fellow frontrunner Mikel Landa (Sky) forged towards an eventual two-up sprint at the finish, Quintana put Dumoulin to the test again.
But the Colombian’s move soon fizzled out, and when Nibali attacked and took Quintana with him with 5km remaining, Dumoulin kept his composure, launching a defiant but brief attack of his own soon after. on an eighth Wimbledon.
Djokovic, the defending champion in Paris, and world number one Andy Murray are struggling for form and confidence, leaving Nadal as the man to beat when the tournament starts on Sunday.
Even losing in the Rome quarter-finals to young pretender Dominic Thiem has not diminished the Spaniard’s confidence.
Nadal has also thrived on hard courts in 2017, reaching his first Slam final in three years when he lost in five sets to Federer in Australia despite being a break to the good in the deciding set.
He was also a beaten finalist against Federer in Miami while his title triumph in Madrid gave him a record-equalling 30th Masters title to add to his 14 majors.
Nadal’s record on clay against the world’s top two is also heavily-weighted in his favour — 8-2 against Murray (2-0 at Roland Garros) and 10-5 when facing Djokovic (5-1 in Paris).
This year’s Roland Garros will be the last for Nadal’s coach, his uncle Toni.
In contrast, Djokovic will work with US legend Andre Agassi for the first time, having dropped his long serving back-up team in a desperate attempt to get his career back on track.
Djokovic completed the career Grand Slam at last year’s French Open when he also held all four majors.
On clay this year, he has at least been on an upward curve — quarter-finals in Monte Carlo, semi-finals in Madrid and a runners-up spot in Rome where he was comprehensively demolished by Alexander Zverev.
Djokovic’s relationship with the 47-year-old Agassi, an eight-time ma-
Williams
jor winner, is limited, for the moment, to just the French Open.
Murray, defeated by Djokovic in the 2016 final, has endured a wretched season by his standards with an elbow injury not helping his cause.
He lost third round in Monte Carlo, made the semis in Barcelona, was a third-round loser in Madrid before an opening defeat in Rome to Fabio Fognini.
World number three Stan Wawrinka, the shock champion in 2015, is also struggling with just two wins on clay all spring.
Should the likes of Nadal, Djokovic and Murray falter, then the much-hyped #NextGen, featuring the likes of Zverev and Thiem could profit.
On Sunday, Zverev, 20, became the first player born in the 1990s to win a Masters title.
Thiem, the 23-year-old world number seven, stunned Nadal in Rome after losing to the Spaniard in the Madrid and Barcelona finals.
However, he was crushed by Djokovic in the Rome semi-finals, winning just one game.
At last year’s French Open, he made the semi-finals, winning just seven games off the Serb.
Serena Williams’ bombshell pregnancy announcement last month triggered a sequence of events that has left this year’s women’s draw at Roland Garros wide open and primed for a new champion.