Monday, November 3, 2008

French Open - Peter Gade takes the Men’s Singles Championship

Peter Gade playing his second finals in 2 weeks had a tough task in hand playing this finals against the on form Taufik Hidayat. This was one exciting game I’ve watched between these two great players. I was hoping for Taufik to take the title but Peter Gade coming into the game has been on great form.

The first game started with explosive speeds between both players and the level of the first set was one of the best singles games this year. Taufik coming in the game by playing 4 rubber sets in his journey to this final playing 3 hours and 46 minutes in the court where else Peter Gade had a total of 2 hours and 46 minutes of court time. Saying this I never expected Taufik to take the first set, but he again showed us what a great player he was by taking Peter Gade point by point in the highly intense game. Peter Gade was playing a very quick and attacking play while Taufik, defending well and converting the defence to attack. Taufik and Peter were playing some good drives around the court and both players were trying to keep the shuttle low and to create opportunity to attack. Taufik took the first game 21-16.

By taking the first game, Peter Gade changed his style of play by pulling Taufik all around the court with some great pushes and some great smashes. Taufik was still competing point by point in the second set taking all of Peter Gade’s shots and still managing to show us some great net play and some great control of the game. The game was levelled at 17-17 however Peter Gade played some fantastic attacking cross court shots to catch Taufik off guard and to win the game 21-17. It was already 40 minutes coming into the final set. This time around, Peter Gade looked fresher than Taufik who looked tired and it showed in the final set. Taufik went down easily to Peter Gade 21-7 for Peter Gade to clinch his second title in as many weeks.

All credit to Peter Gade as he managed to showcase some really brilliant badminton with Taufik. Credit to Taufik for his brilliant performance throughout the whole tournament. Both players showed some great sportsmanship and are great ambassadors to the game. The French Crowd were lucky to have seen one of the greatest badminton being played in their country and I must say, I bet the players must have had a fantastic experience playing for the lovely bunch of fans. The fans were superb and they have shown support to both Peter and Taufik and they made the atmosphere a wonderful one for players and spectators.

The French Open – Helped both players re-discover their love for badminton and it brought fans to love the game even more!

I Love this game! :)

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