21-year old Carolina Marin from Spain and the 20-year old Dane Viktor Axelsen are both ready for the semi-finals at the World Championships.
Carolina Marin booked her ticket for the semi-finals with a three-game victory against Tai Tzu Ying from Chinese Taipei: 19-21, 21-19, 21-11. She is followed by another European youngster; Viktor Axelsen from Denmark, who also made his way into the medal hunt with a victory against another opponent from Chinese Taipei, Chou Tien Chen, with the score: 21-14, 21-14.
Danish pressure on young shoulders
While an injury kept Jan Ø. Jørgensen away from performing his best at the World Championships, Viktor Axelsen guaranteed a Danish medal Friday by wining his quarter-final in front of an excited home crowd.
As Axelsen stated himself, he had never felt such a big pressure on his young shoulders before. But the 20-year old youngster managed to keep the nerves down.
- I’m just so happy with the way I handled it mentally, because I was really nervous before the match, Viktor Axelsen said after the victory.
- Maybe it looked easy, but he was throughout the game bitting my heels, so I couldn't take the foot of the pedal. My game was good, but I actually think that I didn’t perform at my highest level today, but apparently that was enough, the youngster said.
Audience helped Marin
Several times in her quarter-final Carolina Marin was trailing her opponent. But the young Spanish girl never stopped believing in her chances.
- I just kept fighting even though I was so, so tired. The audience kept cheering for me, so I couldn’t let them down. They were a great motivation for me to keep on fighting, says Carolina Marin who conquered the European Championship earlier this year.
- Before the last game I noticed, that my opponent was very tired and seemed to be cracking. I took advantage of that and secured my lead in the beginning, which led me to the victory, a smiling Carolina Marin says.
Semi-finals Saturday
The young Spaniard is now facing another youngster, P. V. Sindhu from India in her semi-final Saturday.
Viktor Axelsen is ready for a semi-final clash against superstar Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia.