Rasmus Gemke pulled off a major upset at the Denmark Open on Tuesday by knocking out the Thai World No. 1, Kunlavut Vitidsarn, in the first round of the tournament.
In the deciding third set, the Dane played superb badminton. At times, he completely outplayed a disheartened Vitidsarn in the Odense arena.
The winning scoreline for the Dane was 13-21, 21-17, 21-12. This marks the fourth time in his career that Gemke—ranked 27th in the world—has beaten Vitidsarn; the most recent victory was at the China Open in July.
Gemke kept pace well in the first set until the interval, but from that point on, Vitidsarn stepped up the pressure.
All of Vitidsarn's shots landed on the right side of the lines, and he clinched the first set at the first opportunity.
It looked as though the second set would follow the same script. Gemke stayed competitive, but Vitidsarn’s high level of play proved too much; at one stage, the Dane was trailing 8-11.
However, Gemke showed great resilience from there. He found much better timing in his shots, while the Thai player began making more errors.
Gemke did not. Bolstered by strong support from the home crowd, the Dane sealed the set by smashing the shuttlecock down the sideline on his first set point. The momentum had shifted completely. In the decisive third set, Rasmus Gemke looked unstoppable.
Winning 13 out of 14 consecutive points, Gemke went from 5-5 to a 17-6 lead, and from there on, he never looked back.