BWF World Championships 2010
The draws for the 2010 World Championships were made in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, there were little doubts about the top seed in the men’s singles draw with Lee Chong Wei taking the #1 seed but there will be no rematch of the 2009 final in Paris on August 29.
Lee Chong Wei begins his campaign against Kevin Cordon, the world number 46 from Guatemala and could face a tricky second round match against world #22 Muhammad Hafiz Hashim in an all-Malaysian second round encounter. The other seed in Lee Chong Wei’s section is Jan O Jorgensen, seeded 11. The Dane has had a disappointing 2010 after bursting onto the world scene with victory over Peter Gade in Denmark and reaching the Chinese Super Series final in 2009. He begins his campaign against the Austrian Michael Lahnsteiner, ranked 86 in the world. His second round encounter will be a much tougher match with one of the best matches of the opening round with Eric Pang taking on Rajiv Ouseph for the chance to play Jorgensen or Lahnsteiner in Round 2.
Taufik Hidiyat received the 5th seed and with that, he plays Ola Fagbemi of Nigeria who is the lowest ranked player in the draw, ranked #122 in the world. His likely second round opponent is ranked almost 100 places higher in the world rankings, world #23 Yu Shin Hsieh of Chinese Taipei who takes on Portugal’s Pedro Martins in Round 1. The other seed is Kenichi Tago, one of the breakout stories of 2010 who is the #12 seed and faces the Czech national champion Petr Koukal, the world #48 in the opening round.
Lin Dan has barely played in 2010, but is still the Chinese #1 and seeded 3 for the Worlds and begins his campaign against Ali Shahhossieni of Iran, ranked 110 in the world before potentially playing the winner of the all-European match between Henrik Toth and Henri Hurskainen in the second round. The conspiracy theorists will claim that Lin Dan’s opening two matches could be the easiest run to the last 16 of any of the seeds, with only Hurskainen inside the top 50 in the world (ranked 50th). His first big test will be against Bao Chunlai, seeded 10 and the player who defeated him in the 2010 All England. The 10th seed begins against Yan Kit Chan who is current ranked 20th in the world in one of the hardest opening round match for any seed. If anything, the winner of this match will have an easier second round match, playing the winner of David Snider of Canada (ranked 89) and Scotland’s Alistair Casey (ranked 78).
Tien Minh Nguyen may not have won in Chinese Taipei to gain him more ranking points but is still seeded 7 and plays the world number 62 Ukrainian Valeriy Atrashchenkov in his opening round match. The winner of Raul Must and Dieter Domke is likely to play the Vietnamese player in round 2. Park Sung Hwan is the other seed in this section, the 13th seeded Korean takes on Derek Wong Zi Liang of Singapore, ranked 79 in the world with Park likely to play the winner of another all-European clash between Matthieu Lo Ying Ping and Vladimir Ivanov in the opening round.
The opening section from the bottom half of the draw is arguably the hardest one to come out of, with England’s Carl Baxter, ranked 27 in the world taking on Slovakia’s Michal Matejka for the chance to play the 9th seeded Boonsak Ponsana, should he defeat world number 52 Vladimir Malkov of Russia. The other seed is Simon Santoso, winner in Chinese Taipei and seeded 8. He takes on Poland’s Przemyslaw Wacha, ranked 37 in the world with the winner of that match taking on the winner of Scott Evans, ranked 45 in the world and Hsuan Yi Hsueh of Chinese Taipei, ranked 41 in the world.
The 14th seed Chetan Anand begins his campaign against Ashton Chen Ong Zhao, ranked 112th in the world in one of the bigger mismatches of the opening round and likely to play the winner of Dmytro Zavadsky and Stephan Wojcikiewicz, ranked 47 and 56 respectively. The other seed in the section is the 4th seeded Chen Jin who begins his campaign against Finland’s #1 and world #53 Ville Lang in his opening round. The other match and potentially Chen Jin’s second round opponent is between Kestutis Navickas of Lithuania, the world number 59 and Scotland’s #1 Kieran Merrilees, ranked 72 in the world.
Wong Choong Hann received the 16th seed and will take on France’s own Simon Maunoury in his opening round match in the French capital, but the world number 81 will need to play the match of his life to reach round 2. The other match to determine the winner of the Wong/Maunoury match is between Iran’s Kaveh Mehrabi, ranked 92nd in the world and Kazushi Yamada of Japan, ranked 30 in the world. Sony Kuncoro won in Macau two weeks ago and the 6th seed comes into the championships in excellent form and begins his campaign against Misha Zilberman of Israel, ranked 84th in the world in round 1. Another all-European clash is the last match in the section with world #25 Dicky Palyama of Holland taking on the 3rd Frenchman in the draw, US Open runner-up Brice Leverdez for a place in round 2.
The final section is the only one with two European seeds, with 15th seed Marc Zwiebler taking on the Czech Jan Vondra in his opening round match and a second all-European match guarantees at least one European in the last 16, with Sweden’s Magnus Sahlberg taking on Pablo Abian of Spain. Peter Gade comes into the competition as the number 2 seed and starts his campaign against Brazilian Daniel Paiola, ranked 74 in the world. The big news from this section of the draw is world number 15 Yun Hu not receiving a seeding for the event despite Chen Long not being able to play as China’s #4 and world #10 and plays Shon Wan Ho of Korea, the world number 35 in his opening match and a likely second round match against Peter Gade, which would likely be the match of the second round.
Boonsak and Sister Lose
It was a poor day for Salakjit and Boonsak Ponsana as their campaigns both ended early on Day 3, for the 5th seeded Salakjit Ponsana her loss to Yu Hirayama of Japan in three games added her name to the casualty list of the women’s singles seeds already out, with 8th seeded Susan Egelstaff crashing out on Day 1. Two more seeds were also put out in the second round with Sayaka Sato and Sung Ji Hyun, the 6th and 7th seeds also losing to unseeded players.
The top three seeds in the men’s singles have all progressed safely into the last 8, with top seed Tien Minh Nguyen defeating Yunus Alamsyah in three tight games to book his place in the quarter finals. Sony Kuncoro also came through a three game encounter against Japan’s Sho Sasaki to claim his place in the last 8 whilst 3rd seed Simon Santoso had little trouble in his third round match, winning in two games to progress into the quarter finals. The 4th seeded Boonsak Ponsana lost to Malaysian Kwong Beng Chan, with Ponsana losing in three games, 22-20, 7-21, 21-16.
6 of the 8 seeds in the men’s doubles are into the last 8, with only the 8th seeded Ko and Yoo losing out to the unseeded pair of Hadiyanto and Wijaya who will play the top seeded duo of Koo and Tan from Malaysia, who have failed to drop a game on route to the last 8. There were wins for the 3rd seeds Lee and Jung and 7th seeds Chen and Lin who meet in the second quarter final. The second all-seeded quarter final is between the 5th seeded Choong and Lee of Malaysia and the 4th seeds, Fang and Lee of Chinese Taipei.
The injury scare over Lee Hyo Jung’s retirement last week has not stopped her playing this week, as the 2nd seeded Lee and Lee progressed into the last 8 with a tight three game victory to book their place in the quarter finals against Ahmad and Natsir of Indonesia, the 5th seeds. The top seeded Gunawan and Marissa are into into the last 8, coming through against Fang and Wang of Chinese Taipei. Lee Hyo Jung is also through to the last 8 of the women’s doubles, after defeating the 3rd seeds Amitapai and Munkit of Thailand. The top two seeds in the event are also through, with top seeds Chin and Wong progressing after Chou and Ku had to retired at 8-2 in the first game. The on-form pair in the women’s doubles, Cheng and Chien are also through to the lasy 8 with a two game victory over Ha and Jang.
Ponsana Disposes of Kuncoro
It was a bad day to be the 3rd seed in both singles events as both fell at the quarter final stage today. Eriko Hirose lost in the women’s singles to unseeded Adriyanti Firdasari of Indonesia in two games whilst Sony Kuncoro lost out to the 5th seeded Boonsak Ponsana in three tight games, losing 25-23 in the final game in 77 minutes.
Lee Chong Wei had no such problems in his two game win over Wan Ho Shon of Korea, his fourth straight victory without the loss of a game this week. In the semi final, he will play 4th seed Simon Santoso after his stunning 21-6, 21-5 victory over Wing Ki Wong of Hong Kong. The other semi final sees Boonsak Ponsana take on the Korean qualifier Lee Hyun Il who defeated the 13th seed Hsieh Yu Hsing of Chinese Taipei.
The women’s singles draw has just one seed remaining in Zhou Mi, the 4th seed defeated on-form Ai Goto in two games to book her place in the semi final against unseeded Li Xuerui of China, who defeated Macau’s Wang Rong in three games to book her place in the last 4. The other semi final sees Adriyanti Firdasari take on Chinese Taipei’s unseeded Shao Chieh Cheng, who profited in the women’s doubles from Lee Hyo Jung’s retirement in the opening round.
Shao Chieh Cheng’s run in the women’s doubles ended today with a tight two game loss to 6th seeded Zhang and Zhang of Macau. The Macau pair take on Jauhrai and Polii of Indonesia in the semi finals after the 5th seeds defeated 2nd seeed Chin and Wong of Malaysia. The two highest seeded pairs remaining in the draw play each other in the other semi final, as top seeds Maeda and Suetsuna of Japan play Cheng and Chien of Chinese Taipei, the 3rd seeds and last weeks winners in the US Open.
The top 2 seeds from the men’s doubles are still in the competition and are joined in the last 4 by two unseeded Korean pairs. 2nd seeded Kido and Setiawan, who have failed to drop a game this week take on Ko and Yoo of Korean who defeated Endo and Hayakawa 22-20 in the third of their quarter final match. The other Korean pair, Cho and Kwon take on the 3rd seed Chandra and Gunawan in the last 4 for a place in Sunday’s final.
The mixed doubles is between 3 Indonesian pairs and a Thai partnership. Top seed Gunawan and Marissa take on the 8th seeds Prapakamol and Thoungthongkam of Thailand, who have yet to drop a game on route to the last 4. The other semi final is an all-Indonesian match between 6th seeded Ahmad and Natsir against the on-form unseeded pair of Teng and Bernadet who have defeated two seeds on route to the last 4 without the loss of a game to date.
Kuncoro Set To Play Ponsana in Quarters
The last 16 was going to see some all-seeded counters, so the expectation was that some seeds would fall, but there was still some unlikely casualties on day 3.
Lee Chong Wei however was not one of them as he safely booked his place in the last 8 with a routine two game victory in 30 minutes. He plays the 15th seeded Wan Ho Shon of Korea in the last 8 after a tight three game victory over Hu Yun, the 8th seed from Hong Kong. There were victories for the 3rd seeded Sony Kuncoro and 4th seed Simon Santoso also, as well as the 5th seeded Boonsak Ponsana who sets up a quarter final match against Sony Kuncoro tomorrow. The qualifier Lee Hyun Il is also through to the last 8 after an impressive two game victory over 11th seeded Yan Kit Chan.
The highest seed in the women’s singles , Jie Yao crashed out to China’s Li Xuerui in two close games and sets up a quarter final match against Macau’s Wang Rong who defeated the talented Japanese player Sayaka Sato to book her place in the last 8. There was little problems with Eriko Hirose after surprisingly dropping the opening game against Chinese qualifer Suo Di, but fought back to take the next two games in impressive fashion. The quarter final to watch tomorrow is between Ai Goto of Japan, who fought through a tight three game encouter with Deng Xuan of China. She will play the 4th seeded Zhou Mi who is having her best run in a tournament for a number of months, she also battled through her second round match in three games.
Only two seeds remain in the men’s doubles, 3rd seeded Chandra and Gunawan defeated their Korean opponents Kim and Shin in three games to book their place in the quarter finals whilst the 2nd seeded Kido and Setiawan had little troubles in their two game victory over Chan and Lim of Malaysia. The two seeded partnerships cannot meet until the final. Whilst in the women’s doubles draw, 6 of the 8 remaining partnerships are seeded, with Ng and Ng over Malaysia defeating the 7th seeded Thai pairing of Amitrapai and Munkit in three games. Cheng and Cheng of Chinese Taipei are the other unseeded pair in the draw, defeating Chan and Chau in two games, who defeated the 4th seeds in their opening round match.
The mixed doubles is dominated by South East Asia, only two Korean partnerships break up the monopoly in the last 8. Top seeds Marissa and Gunawan faught back from a game down to progress to the last 8 and set up an all-Indonesian match against Rijal and Susanto. The first of the Korean couples through is the 4th seeded Ko and Ha who came through a tight three game match to book their place in tomorrow’s quarter final. The other Korean pair in the draw is qualifiers Kwon and Jang who have taken the place of their higher profile Korean players Lee and Lee slot in their quarter of the draw, they will take on the 6th seeded Ahmad and Natsir of Indonesia.
Lee and Taufik To Meet In Final
Sony Kuncoro’s quest for a second title in two weeks ended today at the hands of the top seed, Lee Chong Wei delivered a resounding 21-13, 21-9 victory over the 7th seeded Indonesian to rob the locals of a potential all-Indonesian final. They did get one player into the final, 2nd seeded Taufik Hidayat defeated the 3rd seeded Tien Minh Nguyen in two games to set up a final between the top two seeds in the singles draw. Saina Nehwal is into her second final in 7 days with a fabulous 21-10, 21-9 victory over Eriko Hirose of Japan to book her place in tomorrow’s final. Nehwal plays another Japanese player in the final as Sayaka Sato defeated unseeded Indonesian Ana Rovita in two games to book her place in the final.
The men’s doubles will be an unseeded affair, with Cho and Kwon taking out the 6th seeded Hashimoto and Hirata to book their place in the final. The Korean’s will take on Fang and Lee of Chinese Taipei who defeated Clark and Robertson in their semi final encounter. Both pairs came back from a game behind in their respective matches to win in three games. The mixed doubles final will be without it’s top seed and local superstars Widianto and Natsir as they suffered a three game defeat to Poland’s Zieba and Mateusiak, the 3rd seeds. There is still some local interest the final as the partnership of Anastacia Russkikh and Hendra Setiawan defeated the 7th seeded Ko and Ha of Korea to book their place in the final. For the second Super Series running, there will be a European winner in the mixed doubles.
Kuncoro Moves On To Semis
Sony Kuncoro’s excellent run of form continues on as the 7th seed progressed to the last 4 with a two game victory over Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia setting up a semi final clash with top seed Lee Chong Wei. The Malaysian had to battle his way past Kenichi Tago, the 8th seed in three games to book his place in tomorrow semi final. The other semi final sees 3rd seed Tien Minh Nguyen, who defeated Sho Sasaki in the quarter finals today take on 2nd seed and local favourite Taufik Hidayat who won his all-Indonesian clash with Simon Santoso in just over an hour in three games.
Saina Nehwal is on course for her second Super Series title in two weeks after defeating 8th seeded Ella Diehl in today’s quarter final. She takes on 4th seeded Eriko Hirose in the last 4 after defeating 5th seeded Yao Jie in three tight games. The other semi final is an unseeded affair, with local qualifier Ana Rovita coming through an all-Indonesian quarter final to book her place in the semi final against Sayaka Sato, who defeated Zhou Mi in Round 1 and Yip Pui Yin in the Quarter Finals, the only two seeds on the bottom half of the draw.
Only one seed remains in the men’s doubles, with the 6th seeded Hashimoto and Hirata defeating top seeded Koo and Tan in the quarter finals. They play unseeded Koreans Cho and Kwon after they defeated the 8th seeded Kim and Shin in an all-Korean quarter final. Clark and Robertson continue their excellent vein of form as they beat Indonesian pair Ahsan and Septano in the last 8. They will play Fang and Lee in the semis after they took out the 5th seeded Bach and Gunawan of the USA.
Widianto and Natsir edge ever closer to winning their home tournament as they stormed into the semi finals, where they will play Mateusiak and Zieba of Poland who came through a three game match with unseeded Indonesian pair of Teng and Bernadet in the quarters. The unseeded Indonesian/Russian pairing of Russkikih and Setiawan are also through to the last 4, the remaining unseeded pair in the mixed doubles draw. They will play the 7th seeded Korean pair of Ko and Ha who defeated the 2nd seed and current world champions Laybourn and Rytter Juhl in their quarter final match.
Last weeks’ runner up Boonsak Ponsana found out the hard way that past success is no guarantee of victory today as he lost out to Korea’s Shon Wan Ho in three games. The 4th seeded from Thailand was not the only seeded player to crash out in round 1 as 5th seeded Jan O Jorgensen retired from his match against Sho Sasaki in the second game after losing the tight first game.
Lee Chong Wei had a routine two game victory in his opening round game and will play Marc Zwiebler of Germany in the second round. Kenichi Tago is also through to the last 32 in the top half of the draw. Last weeks winner and 7th seeded this week Sony Kuncoro progressed in two games over Brice Leverdez, who took Lee Chong Wei to three games last week in Singapore.
Another week and another shock loss for Zhou Mi in a year to forget for the 3rd seed. Sayaka Sato of Japan defeated the 3rd seed in two games to set up a second round match against Kim Hi Moon of Korea. Saina Nehwal came through a tight three game match against another Korean player, Sung Ji Hyun to set up a second round match with Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria. With the elimination of Zhou Mi, only Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong remains from the seeded players in the bottom half of the draw.
It was a great day for Koo and Tan of Malaysia as they progressed to the quarter finals thanks to a two game victory in the opening round and their second round opponents pulling out of the match scheduled for tomorrow. Only one seed fell at the opening stage in the men’s doubles, with Clark and Robertson defeating the 3rd seeded Chen and Lin from Chinese Taipei in two games to set up a second round match with Kawamae and Sato of Japan.
The mixed doubles draw is as planned, with all 8 seeds safely through with only the 6th seeded Wallwork and Robertson being taken to a 3rd game today. The unseeded partnership of Setiwan and Russkikh are also through to round 2 and will be a pair to watch throughout this week.
Wednesday’s Complete Indonesia Super Series Results
Taufik Hopes To Take Home Glory
This week’s Super Series gives some of the top seeds from last week a chance to redeem themselves but also allows some unlikely winners an opportunity to continue their excellent vein of form. Peter Gade has returned to Denmark to prepare for the World Championships but there is still an excellent turnout of the world’s top players. Lee Chong Wei will hope for a better week than in Singapore as the top seed looks to regain the form that took him to All-England success in March. Peter Gade may not be in the draw, but Taufik Hidayat is a more than acceptable replacement for the Dane as the 2nd seed this week. Last weeks beaten finalist Boonsak Ponsana is also in the draw, seeded 4th and last weeks winner Sony Kuncoro is the 7th seed this week. There is also some young hopefuls in the draw, such as 5th seeded Jan O Jorgensen and 8th seeded Kenichi Tago.
Saina Nehwal has a fantastic chance to repeat the success from last week as she is the top seed and Pi Hongyan, seeded 2 has withdrawn pre-tournament. Zhou Mi has been unable to consistently win at the Super Series level but the 3rd seed is a handful for any player on her day. Eriko Hirose will want to put her first round defeat last week behind her, the Japanese #1 is seeded 4 for the event.
Koo and Tan are the top seeds in the men’s doubles and hope to go a lot further than their second round defeat last week. 2nd seeded Kido and Setiawan will want to go one better than their loss in the final on Sunday in Singapore. Bach and Gunawan of the USA are the 5th seeds this week and will look to build on a solid performance last week in Singapore.
The top two seeds in the mixed doubles are set for a rematch this week as Widianto and Natsir are seeded 1 and Laybourn and Rytter Juhl are the 2nd seeds this week. Lee Hyo Jung continues with her new partner Kim Min Jung and they are seeded 5 for the event. The 6th seeded Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork will want to put their shock first round defeat from last week behind them with a solid performance this week.
Saina Tops in Singapore
The unlikely local story came good with Sari and Yao winning the Women’s Doubles, beating Kim and Lee of Korea in two games 21-17, 22-20. There was more unseeded success and Fang and Lee of Chinese Taipei defeated the 8th seeded Bach and Gunawan of the USA in two games, winning 21-14, 21-15.
The top two seeds in the mixed doubles met in the final, in what could be a potential final in August’s World Championships in Paris. It was the 2009 winners Laybourn and Rytter Juhl, seeded 2 that defeated the top seeded pair of Natsir and Widianto in two games to take the title, winning 21-12, 21-15.
The women’s singles final had two players with stark contrasts of expectations, the top seeded Saina Nehwal was expected to get to this point and succeeded with wins over the current world champion whilst her opponent Tai Tsz Ying was happy to make it into the draw after coming through qualifying and an opening match victory over Eriko Hirose. The on-form Indian was too strong for her opponent on this day, winning 21-18, 21-15 and only dropping a single game on route to her title this week.
Two seeds also met in the men’s singles final, as the two players who put out the top two seeds met each other in the final. 7th seeded Sony Kuncoro defeated Lee Chong Wei at the quarter final stage whilst 4th seed Boonsak Ponsana defeated the 2nd seeded Peter Gade yesterday in their semi final. The match turned into the longest of the day at just 46 minutes and it was the 7th seeded Kuncoro who took the match in two games, winning 21-16, 21-16.
Sunday’s Full Singapore Super Series Results
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 4th 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 5th 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 3rd 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 8th 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 2nd 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 4th seeded Boonsak Ponsana in the second semi final. Gade took a close opening game before the 4th 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
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