Barcelona Spain Masters 2020 Day 5: Viktor Axelsen, Carolina Marin lead big guns into finals

On the penultimate day of the BWF World Tour Super 300 Barcelona Spain Masters event, the top seeds in four out of the five divisions made their way easily into the finals set to take place on Sunday, February 23, 2020. This includes the two former World Champions in Carolina Marin and Viktor Axelsen.

Marin, who is playing on her home court, was expected to make her way through as she was up against an unfancied opponent in Thailand’s Supanida Katethong. The latter was one among three Thai players in the semifinals of this division.

The Olympic champion had been ruthless in her matches so far and only needed a little extra effort to put away Katethong 21-16, 21-16 in straight games.

Axelsen would be the hot favourite in the final

In the other semifinal played between the two seeded Thai players – Pornpawee Chochuwong and Busanan Ongbamrungphan – the former came out triumphant in a three-game duel. The first game went the way of Busanan but then her compatriot fought back to take the next two and book her spot in the final. The scoreline was 14-21, 21-15, 21-12.

In the men’s singles division, Axelsen made easy work of Malaysia’s Daren Liew, beating him in straight games 21-10, 21-19. He would face another Thai player in the tournament – Kunlavut Vitidsarin – who registered a convincing win over India’s Ajay Jayaram 22-20, 21-12.

The top seeds in the women’s doubles and men’s doubles also booked their spots in the finals of this event. Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin of Chinese Taipei defeated their own seventh-seeded compatriots quite easily 21-14, 21-16.

They would be facing the fourth-seeded Danish Pair of Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen who eliminated the second-seeded Malaysian pairing of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik 21-16, 24-22.

In women’s doubles also, the top seeds Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu of Indonesia won their respective semi-final against England’s Chloe Birch and Lauren Smith 20-22, 21-16, 21-10. Their opponents in the final would be the Stoeva sisters – Gabriela and Stefani – of Bulgaria who won their match 21-14, 16-21, 21-9 against Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai of Thailand.

Lastly, in the mixed doubles segment, Kim Sa Rang and Kim Ha Na of South Korea, who defeated the Danish pair of Mathias Bay-Smidt and Rikke Soby 14-21, 21-11, 21-15, will face France’s Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue, who earned a straight games win over Yang Po-Hsuan and Hu Ling Fang of Taipei 21-16, 21-13.