An Se Young takes on PV Sindhu in blockbuster Day 3
Defending women’s singles champion An Se Young opens day 3 of the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championship in a blockbuster match.
The Korean No.1 seed faces former world champion PV Sindhu of India in the first match on Minoru Yoneyama Court at 10am GMT.
That court also features defending mixed doubles champions Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong of China as they take on Denmark’s Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje.
Christiansen and Boje came through a gruelling three-game win in the first round, advancing in 66 minutes against Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito.
Christiansen said: “I have played against them 13 times and lost all 13 so it’s going to be really difficult.
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“They are the best in the world and hopefully we can play freely and this special arena can do something good for us next game.”
Their match follows the last English representatives in action as Lauren Smith and Marcus Ellis take on Dejan Ferdinansyah and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja of Indonesia.
Ferdinansyah and Widjaja knocked out the fifth seeds to reach the second round and set up a rematch from the Malaysia Open, which they won in three games.
Smith said: “We played our next opponents in January, and we lost 21-19 in the third, so it was tiny, tiny margins that made the difference.
“It’s a pair that we like to play. It’s a pair that we know we’ve got the right style for if we play a consistent match, but we’ll look at it tomorrow, start preparing, have a little bit of a mental reset, have a good rest and go again and just give it our best as always.”
Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei will continue her final YONEX All England Open campaign against Korea’s Kim Ga Eun in the second round of the women’s singles.
The three-time champion has confirmed her retirement after the Paris Olympics but the third seed is focussed on more glory in Birmingham.
😊 It’s always nice to see the great Tai Tzu Ying! ❤️
🏆 At what could be her final YONEX All England Open, could she win a fourth women’s singles crown? #YAE24 #AllOfBadminton pic.twitter.com/nwkBt5uxg7
— 🏆 Yonex All England Badminton Championships 🏆 (@YonexAllEngland) March 13, 2024
For Kim, Thursday’s match offers a chance at a first win over the third seed.
She said: “It would be brilliant if I win [against Tai Tzu Ying] but my confidence level is not quite there yet, so I will try to see where I am at and focus on that.
“She is an excellent player, it will be a very meaningful match to play against her knowing she hasn’t got many matches left until she retires.
“It will be a great opportunity for me and I haven’t beaten her so it will be brilliant if I win.”
Men’s singles top seed Viktor Axelsen goes fourth on court 3 as he takes on Weng Hong Yang.
French brothers Toma Junior Popov and Christo Popov once again play back-to-back and both will hope to advance having picked up their first singles wins at the All England Open.
Toma Junior plays Japan’s Koki Watanabe before Christo takes on Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei.
Defending women’s doubles champions Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong of Korea are one of the late games on Court 3, as they play their first match against Canadian pairing Catherine Choi and Josephine Wu.
Meanwhile, top men’s doubles seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty of India face Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana.
The world No.1’s knocked out their Indonesian teammates Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in the first round and must now face the world No. 9s.
Action gets underway at 10am GMT with coverage across the BBC and TNT Sports.
Be part of All The Action at the All England. Tickets are still available at allenglandbadminton.com. Can’t be in Birmingham this week? You can still see badminton’s most prestigious tournament play out on BBC Sport and TNT Sports. Don’t miss a minute!
