Indonesia Open: Back from the Brink

Somewhere deep within, perhaps even she knows not where, there was belief. And it was this belief that propelled An Se Young to a win from a near-impossible situation over familiar rival Chen Yu Fei.

At 7-17 in the third game against Chen Yu Fei the cause looked all but over for the reigning champion and world No.1. How could she have believed?

There was no real joy apparent on An Se Young’s face as she came away after pulling off that heist. She’s bridged a gulf so far, so wide, that she looked ready to burst in a welter of emotions. She struggled to explain what had just happened, for perhaps the overriding emotion was relief at having scraped the bottom of the barrel and made it out alive.

“I was just lucky today,” the world No.1 offered, having made her sixth final of the year. “Badminton is a game in which you are never assured of a win. Chen did really well. I was a bit confused but I managed. I tried to stay calm and not look at the points, so I was a bit surprised when I won.”

Chen, despite the heartbreak of having a sure win snatched from her grasp by an unrelenting opponent, managed to smile through her pain.

“She’s very patient, but I made mistakes and I wanted to win but I wasn’t focussed on the details,” Chen said. “My tactics didn’t work. I wanted to play my best to challenge her, and I challenged her better than last week, but it’s a pity it wasn’t enough.”

Chen had played her fourth tournament in four weeks – the effort hadn’t worn her down.

“I kept getting better and better and I found my rhythm on court this week. I’m happy with my play and also sad, because I was close to a win.

Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje’s form continued to hold as the Danes made their seventh final of the year – remarkably, their fifth from the last six tournaments. Christiansen and Boje stopped defending champions Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue 18-21 21-13 21-15, and take on Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi in the final.

“I don’t know what to say,” said Christiansen. “We are grinding the momentum. We keep on pushing when we are playing well, even though, of course, we are mentally and physically tired after four weeks, we still think it’s an advantage to keep on playing when we keep on winning, and as I’ve said before, we decided ourselves to play four weeks, so we can’t cry about it now, it’s our own decision. So, let’s see if we can take it all.”

The final will be their first at a Super 1000 tournament.

“Yeah, that feels amazing, especially when it’s here in Indonesia, the most special place to play, and it sounds crazy, and we can’t wait to play tomorrow,” said Christiansen. “We played the final here in January at the Super 500 but this is even more special.”