OHORI made it to the semis!

Carolina MARIN (n°6, Spain), the last European remaining in the women’s single draw, is playing against the Japanese Aya OHORI (n°19) in the quarterfinals. The Japanese is the outsider, but she manages to go against the odds and wins 21/18 21/18 to eliminate Carolina from the tournament. The battle for the title is going to be an Asian matter.

To begin with, both players really struggle to set up their game plan as many unforced errors come from both sides. The Japanese is the first to truly get into the game. Yet, the first set is still close as no player manages to get more than 2 points lead until the money time arrives (18/18). Half of the Glaz Arena cheers for Carolina MARIN and the other part for Aya OHORI. There are 2 set points for the Japanese but only one is needed for OHORI to win the first set 21/18.

At the beginning of the second set, Aya OHORI takes the game into her own hands. She completely annihilates MARIN’s game to lead 5/1. Carolina tries to be more offensive and comes back at 7/7. On a winning smash, Aya leads 11/8 at the break. The Spanish comes back at 15/15 but she gives easy points to the Japanese. Carolina tries to give some hope to her many European fans but after saving two of them, she ends up losing 18/21.

About her defeat, Carolina mentions: “I made mistakes on my game plan. Maybe sometimes it was a big turn and I make some errors and lost easy points. We need to learn about that.”

Tomorrow, the Japanese OHORI will be playing against TAI Tzu Ying  (n°4, Chinese Taipei) for a chance to reach the final.