The men had an early start today as they played their second-round matches in the morning. Luke Griffiths got off to a strong start, beating Christian Wiessner +27 (19-21 21-4 21-9). His quarter-final opponent was Sylvain Ternon who also finished before tennis, beating fellow Frenchman Mouchet +25 (21-12 21-6 20-19). The other quarter-final at the top half of the draw was between Hageraats who defeated Adarsh Vikram Narayanaswamy +22 (21-4 9-21 21-8 4-0), and Damien Andre, who got the better of fourth seed Nicolas Lenggenhager in the first round, and won against Florian Harca +10 (8-21 21-8 21-7 8-21).
The quarter-finals at the bottom half of the draw was between two gummi-arm winners from Denmark, Jaksland and Thyregod, and Radermacher versus Leon Griffiths. Both Jaksland and Thyregod were victorious in the gummi arm, which coincidently came at 21-15 in both matches. Jaksland faced Mustonen and just as two weeks ago, it was a very very tight match. Mustonen was leading going into tennis, and looked like he was going to win. Jaksland served and volleyed for the gummi-arm at it paid off, booking his place in the quarter-final. Thyregod had a close match against Vaclahovsky, and it was almost just as close as the last time they played. Vaclahovsky won table tennis, Thyregod badminton 21-4 and Vaclahovsky played solid squash taking it 21-1. Tennis was close, and went to a gummi-arm at 21-15, which Thyregod won after a long rally, making his second World Championships quarter-final in a row.
The last quarter-final was between Cornelius Radermacher and Leon Griffiths. Leon had to battle past Kresten Hougaard, with an especially very close squash game, but managed to take the match +16 (14-21 21-10 22-20 16-6). Cornelius Radermacher defeated eighth seed Bühler +25 (16-21 21-4 21-8) before tennis.
Griffiths brother’s safely through in very contrasting quarter-finals
The quarter-finals of the tournament were full of contrasts, with one match standing out for its unique gummi-arm playoff. Meanwhile, two other matches were finished before tennis. The most nerve-wracking quarter-final of the day was between defending champion Luke Griffiths and fifth seed Sylvain Ternon. Different to the last time they played, Ternon managed to take table-tennis 21-19 and got a considerable lead in badminton taking it 21-8. Luke fought back in squash, taking it 21-11 meaning Ternon needed 16 points to win the match. Tennis was close all the way, Luke got ahead in tennis, but Ternon fought back. It got incredibly close, Ternon got to 15-19, Griffiths stayed cool and fought back to 21-15 (same as the two other matches before!) to set up a gummi-arm. Griffiths won the toss and decided to serve, and it paid off, after an incredible backhand down the line he won the match and booked his place in the semi-finals. He will face Hageraats who came through his quarter-final match against Damien Andre relatively easy before tennis. He took table-tennis 21-0, before playing some good badminton, getting 19 points. He then finished it off on the squash court, taking the match 21-5 and +35, to reach the semi-finals on home soil. The first semi-final will take place at 19:40.
The second semi-final will be between Jaksland and Griffiths in a repeat from the London Open final two weeks ago. Jaksland defeated good friend and fellow Dane Malte Thyregod +11. They train together and know each other throughout, team mates (winning the world cup title for Denmark yesterday) and often doubles partners. Jaksland took table tennis 21-11, before losing badminton 21-4. He then took squash 21-6, and only needed fourteen points in tennis, taking the match with an overall score of +11 (21-11 4-21 21-6 14-11. Griffiths showed his good form this season, taking table tennis and badminton 21-7 and 21-12 against Radermacher. Squash was close, but Griffiths managed to take it 25-23, to win the match +25 before tennis. The overall score was +25 (21-7 21-12 25-23). The second semi-final will be at 18:00
Defending Champion Enmer is safely through
Defending Champion Enmer is safely through to the semi-finals after she defeated Amke Fischer +20 (21-19 21-8 21-16 2-2) in the quarter-finals. Enmer got off to a good start taking table-tennis and badminton, and stayed close in squash which resulted in her only needed two points in tennis. She now faces Irina Olsacher who beat third seed Kaptein +20 (12-21 21-3 21-18 10-2). Kaptein played well but Olsacher was slightly stronger in the end. The other semi-final will be an all German affair, with Silke Altmann narrowly avoiding the gummi-arm in tennis, taking the match +2 (19-21 21-5 11-21 18-20). Parslow has had a great run in the tournament, playing a high quality match where sport is hard sometimes as there can only be one winner. Altmann’s opponent will be former champion Nathalie Voge, who defeated world no 1 Anna-Klara Ahlmer. The match was a lot closer than last time they played, where Vogel only needed two points in tennis. Ahlmer took table tennis 21-19, and managed to get 16 points in badminton which made it look promising for her going into squash. Vogel turned it around, playing solid and taking it 21-11. Vogel needed nine points in tennis, and got close to take it before the break, but Ahlmer showed her fighting spirit and fought till the end. Vogel took the match +11 (19-21 21-16 21-11 9-11).
The semi-finals are at 19:00 and 19:20 and you can watch them live via streamster.tv
