Quarterfinal day in Saarlandhalle – and all eyes were on the two German doubles of Linda Effler/Thuc Nguyen and Daniel Hess/Marvin Seid. Only one pairing made it into four.
“We didn’t think it would be this clear,” said Linda Effler after the clear 21:11 and 21:14 against Julie McPherson and Ciara Torrance. A day ago, Effler predicted a “close match”. Effler and her partner Tuc Nguyen played a spectacular match against the Scots, inspired by around 400 fans at the Saarlandhalle in Saarbrücken.
Nguyen was happy: “It’s my first semi-final in the 300 – and at home on Saturday, the two Germans will meet Ukrainian second seeds Polina Buhrova and Evhenia Kantemir.” There is a direct matchup between Nguyen and Kantemyr – the women face each other in the second round of mixed doubles. There’s a better ending for Nguyen with Jones Jansen.
Other semifinalists in the women’s doubles include top seeds Natasha Antonissen and Maiken Freuergaard from Denmark and Taiwan’s Sung Shu Yun and Yu Chien Hui.
“And It Hurts”: Hess and Seidel leave
Daniel Hess and Marvin Seidel’s journey ends in the quarterfinals. On Thursday, the local heroes made it into the eight in a dramatic fashion against European vice-champions Toft/Søndergaard. He was then up against two other Danes: Daniel Lundgaard and Mads Vestergaard, 19:21, 17:21.
The disappointment was written in front of all Germans. “I wanted to play again,” Hess said. That hurts. And they are invincible like Denmark and we can’t blame ourselves for anything.” Seidel analyzed: “We didn’t do as well as in the last round. We have given many points to Denmark. In the end it was wafer-thin, embarrassing.” However: “It’s really fun to play in front of an audience.
Lundgaard/Vestergaard will now face England’s Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in the semi-finals. In the second semi-final, Popov’s brothers Toma and Christo will play Denmark’s Rasmus Kjar and Fredrik Ssøgaard.