The Swiss Open 2007 is underway in Basel, Switzerland and for those of you who didn’t already know you can watch the action LIVE online. The tournament matches are available via online streaming and the quality of the video is actually quite good. We’ll include a link at the bottom of the page.

While not all of the best have shown up in all the events, the men’s singles event has the majority of the world’s best competing. With the exception of Taufik Hidayat, it’s fair to say all of the world’s top contenders are here. The quarter-finals are set to start with only a couple of surprises to note. First off China’s Bao Chunlai was defeated by Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia. After crushing Bao the first game 21-5 Sony managed to sneak out the second 21-19 to book his place in the quarters against Lin Dan. Another surprise in the men’s singles was the early exit of Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei who lost first round to Ronald Susilo 21-19, 12-21, 21-19. Susilo then lost the very next round to Indonesia’s Simon Santoso. While the crowd may be disappointed in the withdrawal of Taufik Hidayat, Peter Gade certainly isn’t as he would have had to play him first round.

Zhang Ning sits atop the ladies draw this week, and as we head into the quarter-finals she is set to play who ouster from last week’s All England Open, Pi Hongyan. With Xie Xingfang not competing this week Hong Kong’s Wang Chen is the second seed, but she failed to meet her billing after being knocked out by Korean Hwang Hye Youn 21-15, 12-21, 21-17. Other seeds that were defeated include Bulgaria’s Petya Nedeltcheva and China’s Zhu Lin who lost to Jiang Yanjiao and Li Li respectively.

The highlight of the men’s doubles quarter-finals will be the match between Fu and Cai and Koo and Tan who met in last week’s All England Open final. Last week the Malaysian pair won, but at this level anybody can beat anybody else. Other seeds left include Denmark’s Eriksen and Lungaard, Hwang and Lee, and of course veterans Wijaya and Gunawan.

The women’s doubles features an unusually small number of Chinese pairs left in the draw. The only Chinese pair left are Zhao and Yang while Zhang and Wei withdrew in the second round. As a result the ones to watch are Indonesians Polii and Marissa, Korea’s Lee and Lee and of course China’s Zhao and Yang.

Finally in the mixed doubles a number of the world’s best pairs are missing from the action including last week’s All England winners Gao and Zheng, and World Champions Robertson and Emms. As a result the pair to watch are China’s number two seeded Zhang and Xie. They play Korea’s Lee and Lee in the quarter-finals.

Keep checking back on badmintonsite.com for more updates as the tournament progresses.

Official Results Page

Streaming Video