D

enmark’s high hopes placed on the shoulders of 16-year-old badminton star Viktor Axelsen came crashing down as he bowed out on his home court at the second round of the Denmark Open Super Series in Odense late Thursday.

The youngster’s senior compatriot Jan O Jorgensen schooled the Odense native 21-14 21-16 in half an hour. Axelsen briefly took the lead in the first game after coming from behind to even the score 10-10. However, Jorgensen forced another tie at 13-13 and romped off with the set 21-14. Jorgensen controlled the second game, while Axelsen created numerous faults in his returns.

“I feel a little bit of pressure from myself because I really wanted to win today,” Axelsen, who became world junior champion in April, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.  This year’s Denmark Open was his first appearance at the prestigious Super Series badminton tournament.

Axelsen exceed his earlier goal for the tournament by reaching Thursday’s second round. He defeated Valeriy Atrashchenkov of Ukraine and Shuhei Hayasaki of Japan in the qualifiers and beat France’s Matthieu Lo Ying Ping in the first round.

“I personally expected to prove to myself that I am still better than him. Considering that I am based in Copenhagen, while he is playing at home, he will get much support. That motivates me to play better,” Jorgensen, a silver medalist at the 2010 European Championships, said.

However, Jorgensen also praised his junior, saying: “Technically [Axelsen] is a good attacker, but he needs to improve his net game as well as the mental aspect. That can only be achieved from more experience.”

“Normally his attack is his strongest weapon, but in this match he lost a bit confidence in his attacks because he often made mistakes,” Axelsen’s coach, Lennart Engler, said after the match.

“He just arrived into the senior badminton scene a year and a half ago. Maybe the pace has been too fast, so he still has a lot to work on. Just like in Indonesia, we in Denmark need longer to create a senior champion,” he added.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Indonesian contingent continued its march to the quarterfinals late Friday, apart from women’s doubles pair Vita Marissa and Nadya Melati who were defeated by Japan’s Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsuna 9-21, 9-21 on Thursday.

Vita and her mixed doubles partner Hendra Aprida Gunawan took almost an hour to beat another Japanese pair Shintaro Ikeda and Reiko Shiota. Vita and Hendra lost the first game 17-21, but took the remaining sets 21-19 21-12 to advance to a quarterfinal showdown with Michal Fuchs and Birgit Overzier of Germany.

Hendra Aprida also completed another three-set match late Thursday when he and third seed partner in the men’s doubles Alvent Yulianto Chandra beat Dutch pair Rudd Bosch and Koen Ridder.

The Dutch took the first set 21-18 and nearly broke the Indonesian pair in the second set as they forced a tie at 19-19, but Hendra and Alvent fought back and eked through 27-25. They finished off the third set 21-12. Alvent and Hendra will meet Japanese eighth seeds Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa in Friday’s quarterfinals.

After defeating Denmark’s Jaochim Persson 21-15, 21-19 on Thursday night, men’s singles second seed Taufik Hidayat will meet All England finalist Kenichi Tago of Japan in the quarterfinals.

“I think my chance to win is within grasp, because [Tago] is not a stable player. He has not had a good showing since the All England,” Taufik said.

Second seed men’s doubles pair Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan will face German pair Michael Fuchs and Oliver Roth.