Viktor Axelsen is the top seed in Kumamoto, where he triumphed last year. (Archive photo). Photo: Claus Fisker/Ritzau Scanpix
Badminton star Viktor Axelsen showed his routine on Friday when he played his way through to the semi-finals of the Super 500 tournament in Kumamoto, Japan.
For the second time in two days, the 30-year-old Dane had to go out in three sets before succeeding in defeating French Christo Popov 21-18, 16-21, 21-18.
On Saturday, he faces the Chinese Li Shifeng.
Axelsen again had to do without his coach Henrik ‘PK’ Rohde and therefore had no opportunity to get good advice from the outside.
Otherwise they would have been welcome.
Popov set out at a high pace and clearly tried to catch Axelsen on the wrong foot from the start of the match.
It succeeded. The Frenchman quickly took a 7-2 lead before Axelsen got going with seven points in a row on the difficult downwind side.
But Popov went to work unimpressed and continued to push the top-seeded Dane to the limit.
Popov won 18-16, but Axelsen showed his great experience and kept his composure. He won the last five balls to close out the set.
Now the two-time Olympic gold medalist came across on the more advantageous side and that seemed to create the decider.
Axelsen played with good rhythm and controlled the balls better. He took a 5-1 lead, but then completely stalled.
Eight French points in a row sent Popov to 10-6, and soon after it was also 11-7.
Axelsen was down 13-17 before he moved further forward on the court and got control of his net game. But there were still too many errors, and the third set became a reality.
It did not work for the world number two, who was frustrated with his own game and at times the pitch. The world number 25 was ahead 11-8 at the change of sides, but started to make mistakes.
Even the smallest howlers were punished on both sides of the net and everything was wide open at 17-17, but Axelsen held firm and finally roared his cheers.
According to TV 2 Sport, Axelsen is missing his coach in Japan because ‘PK’ Rohde could not get a visa to Japan. Only in next week’s China Masters will Axelsen get sparring on the sidelines again.
Against fifth-seeded Gregoria Mariska Tunjung from Indonesia, Mia Blichfeldt got off to a good start on the difficult side, but the technically strong Indonesian was a notch better in the quarter-finals.
Once Tunjung got the game over on her terms, she ran roughshod over the Dane, and on the decisive balls, Blichfeldt was out of focus.
It was thus not the second tournament victory in a row for Mia Blichfeldt, who recently won the Super 300 tournament Hylo Open in Germany.
With her defeat, all Danish women’s singles are out.
