Japan Open review: Lane and Vendy produce another upset

Ben Lane and Sean Vendy earned another statement victory before falling at the quarter-final stage of the Daihatsu YONEX Japan Open.

Lane and Vendy continued their fine World Championship form, where they knocked out the top seeded ‘Minions’, as they defeated world no.4s Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin in the second round. 

Their involvement in Osaka ended in the next round, however, with defeat to Denmark’s seventh-seeded pair Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.

The English duo came through a decider against Keiichiro Matsui and Yoshinori Takeuchi in the first round, prevailing 21-14 17-21 21-13.

Both pairs started nervously as the lead changed hands several times, but with the game in the balance at 12-12, Lane and Vendy scored eight of the next nine points en route to taking the lead.

Matsui and Takeuchi spent much of the second game trailing, as the English pair stretched a lead to eight points.

But the home favourites won six points in a row to set up a decider, which was much more straightforward for Lane and Vendy.

The long-term partnership were never behind as they closed out the final game 21-13, securing the win at the first time of asking and just inside the hour mark. 

As the quality of opposition ramped up, so did Lane and Vendy’s performance. In the first game, Lee and Wang led only twice before the duo pulled away to win 21-18. 

It was a mirror image scoreline in the second game but this one was a much closer affair, Lane and Vendy’s biggest lead coming as they closed out the match. 

Lee and Wang had looked in the ascendancy as they secured their third point in a row to move 8-5 ahead, but it was the motivation Lane and Vendy needed to get ahead.