Jorgensen aces 'clash of the pals'

Jorgensen beat Zwiebler in 37 minutes.

Having played against each other and shared lockers rooms on the European circuit as well as in BWF Superseries events across the globe for close to a decade, Denmark's Jan O Jorgensen and Germany's Marc Zwiebler are quite good friends.
 But then, the camaraderie was kept aside for a while on Thursday as the two met in a Group A men's singles fixture at the Hamdan Sports Complex.
 And the outcome was pretty much according to the trend with the Dane, No.1 in the Destination Dubai Rankings, acing the 11th meeting between the two.
 The 28-year-old made it nine wins over Zwiebler, sixth in the Destination Dubai rankings, and with it a semifinals berth, with a game to spare, in the Dubai BWF World Superseries Finals.
Jorgensen, who had rocked up a 21-8, 21-5 demolition over Hong Kong's Hu Yun in the tournament opener on Wednesday, went on to hand the 32-year-old Zwiebler a 21-18, 21-10 defeat in 37 minutes. Jorgensen equalled his best result here - two semifinal appearances in 2014 and 2015 and he is now two steps away from that Dubai title, which has proven to be elusive until now. "Two good wins, that's what I hoped for," Jorgensen said after the game.
"I was struggling a bit with my focus as Marc had an injury in the first game. It was a long break and I had to stay in the game. I've played Marc a lot of times and we know each other so well. It's been a pleasure competing against him since I was young. He's one of the guys I'll remember when I'm an old man," added the Dane.
 Jorgensen's two back-to-back wins also mean that the third and final group fixture against China's Tian Houwei on Friday has been reduced to a dead rubber, with both making it through to the last four. Houwei, who had beaten Zwiebler in the opening game, edged past Yun 21-19 13-21 21-7 in just over an hour.
 
james@khaleejtimes.com