Boonsak Ends Gades Hopes

Semi Final day in Singapore had local players Sari and Yao in the last 4 of the Women’s Doubles, where they were the underdogs to beat 4^th seed Cheng and Chien of Chinese Taipei. After losing the opening game, the unseeded pair took the next two games to book their place in tomorrow’s final. The will play the 5^th seeded Korean pair of Lee and Kim who defeated the other unseeded pair in the draw still, Jauhari and Polii of Indonesia.

The mixed doubles had the top three seeds in the last 4, with the top two making in through to tomorrow’s final. Laybourn and Rytter Juhl, the second seeds defeated the 3^rd seeded Gunawan and Marissa in two games. Top seeded Widianto and Natsir are also through after defeating the Chinese Taipei pairing of Chen and Cheng. Cheng Wen Hsing’s excellent week in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles both end at the semi final stage.

Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan rolled back the years again to make the final at the expense of Ko and Yoo of Korea. The 8^th seeded pair will take on the unseeded pair of Fang and Lee from Chinese Taipei after they defeated the second seeds, Kido and Setiawan. The 2^nd seeds lost tamely in the semi final to continue their poor run of form since their win in France last year.

Top seed Saina Nehwal lived up to her seeding with a three game victory over current world champion Lu Lan, after dropping the opening game 8-21. The other semi final was an all unseeded affair between Korea’s Bae Youn Joo and Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying. It was the player from Chinese Taipei who will meet Nehwal in tomorrow’s final after a close two game encounter.

Sony Kuncoro’s excellent week continues as he beat India’s Kashrup Parupalli in two games to book his place in his first final of 2010. Peter Gade, seeded 2 took on the 4^th seeded Boonsak Ponsana in the second semi final. Gade took a close opening game before the 4^th seed battled back to take the next two tight games to book his place in tomorrows final whilst Gade misses out on his best chance to win a Super Series this year.

Saturday’s Full Singapore Super Series Results

Gade Moves To Last 8

Day two started with the completion of Round 1’s matches, with the likes of Lu Lan, Tien Minh Nguyen and Peter Gade playing their opening matches of the competition and potentially their first of two matches today. The three seeded players had little trouble in booking their places into Round 2.

Round 2 began at 2pm local time, with all of the games expecting to be played and the tournament to be back on schedule. There was trouble for Widianto and Natsir in their second round match against Ahmad and Polii after losing the opening game, only to bounce back and take the next two games and book their place in the last 8. There was also wins for Gunawan and Marissa in the mixed doubles as the 3^rd seed beat the local pairing of Saputra and Yao in three games. Current world champions Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl defeated the English pairing of Olver and Clark in two games to book their place in the last 8 also.

Joachim Persson’s excellent win yesterday would be his last win this week as 7^th seeded Sony Kuncoro defeated the Danish player in two games to book his place in the last 8. Dicky Palyama continues his recent run of good form as he progressed into the quarter final stage with a simple two game win. Tien Minh Nguyen’s second match of the day was against Kashrap Parupalli of India and the Vietnamese player never got into the game and lost in two games, 23-21, 21-8. There was another scare for Lee Chong Wei as he was taken to three games for the second time this week, only to come through and set up a quarter final match against Sony Kuncoro. Peter Gade’s second match of the day was against Carl Baxter of England, the 9 hour break for Gade was enough for the Dane to recharge his batteries and comfortably defeat Baxter 21-8, 21-13 to book his place in the last 8.

Top seed in the Women’s Singles Saina Nehwal had a harder time than yesterday against Ell Diehl, however the top seed Indian came through in two close games to reach the last 8. There were wins for Yao Jie, Korean teenager Bae Youn Joo and Chinese unknown Li Xuerui to book their places in the quarter final. Lu Lan also came through her second match of the day in a tight three set encounter against Judith Meulendijks, winning the 3^rd game 23-21 to book her place in the last 8. The top two seeds in the Women’s Doubles both crashed out at the second round, the top seeded Maeda and Suetsuna losing out to Gutta and Ponnappa of India. The 2^nd seeded Fujii and Kakiiwa lost out to Indonesian’s Jauhari and Polii.

Thursday’s Full Singapore Super Series Results

Wang Leads China to Uber Final

The women took centre stage on Thursday, with the two semi finals taking place on day 5 of the championships.

Korea vs. Japan

The key to Japan’s success was in their singles matches, which they have been exceptionally strong in this week with only Eriko Hirose’s defeat against Juliane Schenk in the group stage stopping a perfect record to date. Bae Sueng Hee had come through two long matches but fitness was never a factor as the Korean #1 give her nation an early lead with a 21-12, 21-16 win over Eriko Hirose. Lee and Kim doubled Korea’s lead with a 21-19, 21-10 win over Suetsuna and Maeda, making Japan had to win the next three to make the final. Ai Goto halved the deficit with a 21-10, 22-20 win over Bae Youn Joo but the second Korean doubles pair of Lee and Ha were too strong for Fujii and Kakiiwa, with the Korean’s winning 21-14, 21-18 and taking the match overall by 3 matches to 1.

China vs. Indonesia

Saina Nehwal proved yesterday that Wang Yihan could be beaten, at least in one game but the Chinese #1 proved why she is the best player in the world at the moment with a 21-7, 21-12 victory over Maria Febe Kusumatuti in the opening singles of their Uber Cup semi final. The unbeaten Ma and Wang doubled the Chinese lead with a 21-17, 21-13 over the also previously unbeaten duo of Polii and Maheswari to put China within one game of the Uber Cup Final. Wang Xin completed the task with a 21-17, 21-15 win over Adriyantii Firdasari in just over half an hour and completed the 3-0 rout to book China’s place in Saturday’s final.

Day 5 Results

Nigeria No Show on Day 1

Day One was meant to see the host nation in action as well as seven other matches, but Nigeria’s failure to turn up on time in Kuala Lumpur forced them into a forfeit of their opening game over the host nation Malaysia.

Thomas Cup:

Pre-Tournament favourites China defeated Peru in the opening match of Group A with a convincing 5-0 win, with Lin Dan impressing with a 21-4, 21-6 victory over Antonio De Vinatea in 20 minutes. Chen Jin and Chen Long also won their singles easily to give China a 3-0 lead in the match. Two simple wins for the doubles pairings completed the 5-0 win.

Denmark also completed an impressive 5-0 victory over Poland in the first of the all-European ties in Group C, with Peter Gade winning the opening match over Przemyslaw Wacha 21-9, 21-9 to lay down a marker for the match that the other Danes responded to. Boe and Mogensen defeated Cwalina and Logosz in the second match, followed by wins for Jorgensen, Paaske and Rasmussen and finally Joachim Persson to defeat the Poles by 5-0, all in two games.

Indonesia took on Australia in Group D, with Taufik Hidiyat leading the charge against Jeff Tho. 26 minutes was all Hidayat needed to give Indonesia a 1-0 lead, winning 21-12, 21-12. There was little resistance from the Australians in the other four matches, except for Smith and Warfe’s brave second game performance that they had 3 game points against Kido and Setiawan, only to lost out to the Indonesians 24-22.

Uber Cup:

China opened up their Uber Cup campaign with a 5-0 demolition of the USA in their opening group game. Wang Yihan started the rout with a stunning 21-2, 21-9 victory over Rena Wang in 21 minutes, before Ma and Wang won the opening doubles match 21-7, 21-12. China conceded just 37 points in the final three matches of the rubber, with Wang Xin, Wang Shixian and the pairing of Pan and Tian completing an impressive first victory for the Uber Cup favourites.

Indonesia’s men secured a 5-0 victory over Australia; the women matched the task with a 5-0 win over Australia’s women. All five matches won in two games, with little resistance from the Australians, only Australia’s doubles partnerships were able to secure double digit scores in both of their two games.

Japan against Germany had the makings of a tight match, the opening match seen Eriko Hirose take on Juliane Schenk. The Germans took an early 1-0 lead in the match with Schenk’s 21-15, 21-12 victory, the lead however was short lived as Fujii and Kakiiwa levelled the rubber at 1-1 with a two game victory. Ai Goto defeated Karin Schnaase to give the Japanese a 2-1 advantage. The first doubles match was the only 3-game match of the day as Suetsuna and Maeda took on Schenk and Overzier. The Japanese duo coming through in 3 games, 21-17, 18-21, 21-11 to give Japan an unassailable 3-1 lead. Yu Hirayama completed the comeback with a 21-16, 21-3 victory over Fabienne Deprez to give Japan a 4-1 victory.

Korea played South Africa in one of the evening games, with a 5-0 win expected by the majority. Sung Ji Hyun started with a 21-9, 21-9 victory and the Korean’s never looked back, taking the next 4 matches without the loss of a game. Only Stacey Doubell was able to take double digits in any of the ten games that the South Africans played, losing the second game in her match against Bae Youn Joo 21-10.

Thomas and Uber Cup Day 1 Results

Lee Chong Wei Dominates Field

In another demonstration of his superior abilities Lee Chong Wei has won back to back super series titles today as he disposed of Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana in two straight games 21-13, 21-7. While Lin Dan may take the big titles out of Lee Chong Wei’s hands, even the Chinese star cannot match Lee’s consistency and prolific winning.

Lee wasn’t the only hometown hero on the day however. Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong did well to take the men’s doubles title after defeating not one, not two, but three Chinese pairs. In the final they defeated Guo Zhendong and Xu Chen in three games 21-15, 17-21, 21-16.

The women’s singles final provided some drama and speculation after Bae Youn Joo withdrew during the final against Wang Xin. There appeared to be some confusion between Bae and the chair umpire as Bae requested to place a strap on her ankle, but was refused because she did not indicate to the umpire what was wrong and did not request the tournament doctor. Later there was speculation that it was either an ankle injury, or even potentially more serious issues like a heart problem. We have no verification on either report at this time.

Throughout the tournament Du Jing and Yu Yang managed to go relatively untested, and won the women’s doubles title without dropping a single game. The second seeded pair defeated their compatriots Ma Jin and Wang Xiaoli 21-16, 21-12 in only 34 minutes.

While it was a good comeback tournament for the Danish World Champions Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl they didn’t have what it took to go all the way in Malaysia this week. After a great run they fell in the final to China’s Tao Jiaming and Zhang Yawen 19-21, 21-18, 21-15. Nonetheless Laybourn has to be happy with his first super series event after injuring himself at the end of 2009.

Visit the draws below for full results
Malaysia Super Series 2010 Draws