Triple Blow for China – Day 4: VICTOR China Open 2018
China had a bruising quarter-finals day, with home contenders Chen Long and the doubles pairs of Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen and Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan biting the dust.
· DEV SUKUMAR
The most surprising of these results for the home team must have been the loss of Women’s Doubles
third seeds Chen and Jia to Stefani Stoeva and Gabriela Stoeva (featured image). The Bulgarian siblings were feisty all the way, with Stefani Stoeva’s rasping attack from the back causing the Chinese no end of trouble. They went 9-1 ahead in the third and kept their lead, and even though Chen and Jia steadily gained on them, they nudged the tape at 21-19 16-21 21-19.
This meant a best-ever result for the Stoevas, and they were understandably thrilled.