Tweet
Enlarge PhotoEngland's Rajiv Ouseph returns a shot to Denmark's Jan Jorgensen during their men's singles match... England's Rajiv Ouseph heads for uncharted waters after triumphing at his first world championships in the biggest match of his career on Wednesday.The reward is a clash with Malaysia's world number one Lee Chong Wei and Ouseph is up for it.
In a thrilling second-round contest in front of a near-capacity 4,000 crowd at the hot and humid de Coubertin stadium, unseeded Ouseph beat 11th-seeded Dane Jan Jorgensen 21-12 25-23, clinching victory on his fourth match point.
Three-times English champion and U.S. Open winner last month, Ouseph told reporters: "This win probably means the most to me because it's at the world championships.
"It's given me a bit of confidence so I can just go out there (against Chong Wei) and enjoy it."
The victory was revenge for Ouseph who had lost to Jorgensen in the European championships semi-finals in April.
"I think I played a bit better today. I don't think Jan played as well but it was still good for me to win and it's my first worlds so it's quite a big tournament to win in," he said.
At 19-16 in the second set, it looked like plain sailing after a controlled display but Jorgensen pulled back to 19-19 and then saved three match points.
In a tense finale, the Dane had set point himself at 23-22 but Ouseph, world ranked 17, held his nerve.
Ouseph, whose parents were born in India, had extra insights on Wednesday from England's newly appointed coach, Kenneth Jonassen, a former world number two from Denmark.
"He'd been coaching Jan for a bit so he knows what he's good and weak at," Ouseph said.
Ouseph, 24 next week, has an extra spring in his step as he eyes his last-16 clash with Chong Wei on Thursday.
"He wants to win this one because he's never won it before and I don't think Malaysia have won a gold so there's a lot of pressure on him to win," he said.
"I think I'll be the underdog again and try and enjoy it and play as well as I can."
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar;To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
(For more news visit Reuters India)
Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator
