Denmark Open: Koo-Tan in final

MEN'S doubles Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong stunned local hopefuls Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen to reach the final of the Denmark Open, their best achievement in a premier super series this year, in Odense yesterday.
Kien Keat-Boon Heong notched a 19-21, 21-11, 26-24 victory over Boe-Mogensen, the World No 2, in 71 minutes to reach their second consecutive final after the London Olympics.
The Malaysians also ended their three-match losing streak to Boe-Mogensen and will meet South Korea's Shin Baek Cheol-Yoo Yeon Seong who beat Indonesia's Muhammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan 21-17, 21-15, in the final today.
Boon Heong said their preparation had not been ideal after the London Olympics and was glad to have beaten Boe-Mogensen whom they have an overall 7-4 record going into the last four yesterday.
"Our preparation was less than ideal after the Olympics as there has been a lot uncertainty over our partnership and future. We have a good record over them (Boe-Mogensen) and although we never beat them this year, we had a good strategy and we are happy it paid off," said Boon Heong.
"They looked tired as well and our plan was to reduce our errors and not be too hasty in our attack. We are glad that we got it right."
Kien Keat said the expectations will be high for them to win the title but they don't want to put any pressure on themselves.
"They are very strong coming to the net and mid court, so our plan was to push them back. We also did not play an all-out attacking game but varied our game and seize the opportunities when it came. Sometimes plans don't work but this time, it worked for us," said Kien Keat.
"It is good to be in the final of a Premier tournament and although there will now be expectations of us winning, we don't want to think about it. In the past, whenever we were expected to do well, we have not done so well and we don't want to fall into that trap."
In the men's singles, top seed Lee Chong Wei played Denmark's Jan Jorgensen in a late semi-final clash last night while his rival Chen Long of China crashed out when he lost 21-14, 21-10 to compatriot Du Pengyu.
Meanwhile, mixed doubles Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying ended their campaign in the semi-finals after losing 21-7, 21-16 to Xu Chen-Ma Jin of China.
"We could not get our game together as they read our game very well and anticipated our shots. We took some time to adapt and get back into the game and that made the difference," said Peng Soon.
"Although we lost tamely in the first game, we did not allow that to affect our concentration in the second. We tried harder and played better in the second game but they were too good."
Courtesy of New Straits Times