French Favourite Pi Hongyan
The 48 strong field in the women’s singles is missing one major name, the 2009 World Champion Lu Lan failed to reach the qualification within the Chinese rankings. With only the top four from any country eligible, Lu Lan was the 5th best ranked Chinese player, yet still the world number 9. Yanjiao Jiang is another casualty of the Chinese dominance in the event, being China’s number 6 and ranked 11 in the world.
Top seed Wang Yihan is given a bye in the first round before taking on the world #32 Porntip Buranaprasertuk of Thailand in the second round, her likely opponent is the 10th seeded Eriko Hirose. Hirose’s section starts with the 10th seed taking on Aditi Mutatkar of India, ranked 34th in the world. The winner of Hirose’s match will take on the winner of Maria Febe Kusumastuti of Indonesia, ranked 32nd in the world and Russia’s Tatjana Bibik, the world number 47.
Another Chinese player tops the seeding in the second section; Wang Lin of China is the 7th seed and receives a first round bye before taking on Slovenia’s world number 48, Maja Tvrdy. 12th seeded Yip Pui Yin is the other seed in the section and takes on local favourite and world number 106 Perrine Lebuhanic. The final match in the section and likely to play Yip Pui Yin in the second round is between Ireland’s Chloe Magee, ranked 69th in the world and Anna Rice of Canada, world number 42.
Tine Baun (formerly Rasmussen) is the 4th seed in the draw and the best chance for European success, after a first round bye she takes on Belgium’s world number, Lianne Tan who has failed to live up to her credentials as a junior to date. The second all-European match in the section is between Petya Nedelcheva, the 15th seed and Judith Meulendijks, the world number 23. This is one of the feature matches of the opening round. The winner of the previous match takes on the winner of Karen Foo Kune, the world number 102 and Larisa Griga, Ukraine’s world number 38.
Juliane Schenk offers European another possibility, the 8th seed has a first round bye before taking on Lydia Li Ya Cheah of Malaysia, the world number 78. The other seed in the section is the 14th seeded Bae Sueng Hee of Korea who plays Scotland’s world number 27 Susan Egelstaff in another extremely competitive opening round match. Last weeks winner Cheng Shao Chieh plays Any Nieminen of Finland with the winner taking on the winner of the Bae/Egelstaff match.
Hi Kim Moon is seeded 16 for the event and starts with a match against Portgual’s Telma Santos, the world number 88. The other opening round match in the section is between Michelle Chan Ky of New Zealand and Adrianti Firdasari of Indonesia, the world number 21 and the second highest ranked player not to be seeded. The highest seed in the section is France’s own Pi Hongyan who takes on Elena Prus of Ukraine, after a first round bye.
The 9th seeded Zhou Mi is the out of form seed in the competition, without a win in over a year and notorious for early upsets in the bigger events. Bulgaria’s Linda Zechiri, the world number 30 takes on Zhou Mi in round 1. Ai Goto has been in excellent form in recent months, the world number 22 takes on Alesia Zaitsava of Belarus, ranked 93rd in the world. The 3rd seeded Wang Xin is the highest seed in the section and after a opening round bye, takes on Canada’s Charmaine Reid, the world number 50.
The fourth of the Chinese seeds, Wang Shixian is the top seed from the seventh section of the draw but faces a tough opening match in the second round against world number 25, Thailand’s Salajkit Ponsana in another of the top matches in the opening round. Czech Kristina Ludikova, ranked 57th in the world takes on America’s Rena Wang, world number 80 for an opportunity to play the winner of the other match in the section, between Singapore’s Xing Aiying, world number 43 takes on the 11th seeded Yao Jie of Holland.
Similar to the men’s draw, Wong Mew Choo is ranked higher than one of the seeds in the event but the Malaysian missed out on a seeding. Hi Kim Moon is 20th in the world and the Wong is ranked 19th. Her campaign starts against the world number 51, Karin Schnaase of Germany for an opportunity to take on the seeded player in the second round. Ella Diehl is the seed from the top half of the section, with the 13th seed takes on another European tour veteran, Jeanine Cicognini, the world number 37 from Switzerland. The 2nd seeded Saina Newhal should put all the controversy over seeds to rest as she is the likely finalist from this half of the draw, she begins her week in round 2 with a match over Chen Hsiao Huan, the world number 65.
Lee Hyun Il Still Has It
This week turned into an opportunity for Zhou Mi to win her first ranking event of 2010 but was defeated by unseeded Li Xuerui to continue her winless streak this year. The women’s singles final will be contested by another unseeded player, Indonesia’s Adriyanti Firdasari is through to tomorrow’s final after a two game victory in her semi final.
Lee Chong Wei dropped his first game of the week, but fought back to win his semi final encounter against Simon Santoso, the 4th seed from Indonesia. He will play the unseeded Lee Hyun Il in the final, a player who only made it into the main draw after Peter Gade’s withdrawal earlier in the week. The Korean defeated the 5th seeded Boonsak Ponsana in two games to book his place in tomorrow’s final against the World #1.
There was yet another shock, this time in the men’s doubles as Ko and Yoo defeated the 2nd seeds, Kido and Setiawan to book their place in tomorrows final against the 3rd seeds, Chandra and Gunawan. They defeated the other unseeded Korean pair of Cho and Kwon in their semi final to book their place in tomorrow’s final.
The top seeds in the women’s doubles are out also, Maeda and Suetsuna were defeated by last weeks winners in the US, Cheng and Chien of Chinese Taipei. The 3rd seeds will play the 5th seeds Jauhari and Polii of Indonesia who ended the hopes of the 6th seeds, Zhang and Zhang of Macau. The mixed doubles is an all-Indonesian final, with top seeds Gunawan and Marissa taking on Ahmad and Natsir. The 6th seeds ended the impressive run of another Indonesian pair, Teng and Bernadet.
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.
Wong Falls To Lee
The unlikely all-Malaysia final in the men’s singles was a reality as 4th seeded Wong Choong Hann defeated Taufik Hidayat in yesterday’s semi final to set up a final against top seed and world #1 Lee Chong Wei in today’s final.
Before the men’s singles, it was an all-Hong Kong women’s singles final between Yip Pui Yin (seeded 3) against Zhou Mi (seeded 2). Both players had came through three-game encounters in the semi final, with Yip Pui Yin defeating top seeded Pi Hongyan to reach the final. The pair shared the opening two games to set up a third game decider, which Zhou Mi lead for the majority of before giving up her lead whilst leading 19-18 in the third and the 3rd seeded brilliantly served out to win the match 21-19 in the final game.
Hendra Setiawan and Markis Kido won the men’s doubles in an all-Indonesian final against Gunawan and Yulianto. After dropping the opening game 21-8, Kido and Setiawan responded by winning the next two games, 21-17, 21-12. There was more Indonesian success in the mixed doubles, with Lahardi and Natsir defeating the 3rd seeded Thai pairing of Sudket and Saralee in three games, winning 13-21, 21-16, 21-17.
Thailand did have one winner, in the women’s doubles as 4th Duanganong and Kunchala defeated the unseeded Malaysian pair of Ng and Ng in three games. Malaysia was guaranteed at least one title, in the men’s singles. Lee Chong Wei was the clear favourite and dominated the opening game, winning it 21-8 before the 4th seed fought back to take the second game 21-14 to set up a deciding game. Wong Choong Hann took a very early lead at 1-0 and would never take the lead again in the deciding game, as Lee Chong Wei had as much as a 10-point lead at one stage, before taking the final game by 21 points to 15.
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.
Palyama Upsets Jorgensen
A rain-shortened day in Singapore has delayed some players opening round games until Thursday such as Peter Gade but even down one court for most of the day the organisers almost completed a full days play, with several seeds crashing out throughout the day.
The unknown Chinese players in Singapore are making a name for themselves as Li Xuerui defeated 8th seeded Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong 21-4, 21-14 in just 22 minutes to explode onto the Super Series stage within the opening hour of play. 3rd seed Zhou Mi crashed out in the opening round as her terrible run of form in the 2010 Super Series continues. Saina Nehwal had no trouble in her opening round match, defeating Wong Mew Choo 21-8, 21-5 to book a 2nd round match against the European Circuit Finals champion, Ella Diehl. 4th seeded Lu Lan, who is not taking part in the World Championships in Paris after dropping out of China’s top 4 (currently China’s #6) but is still ranked inside the top 10 in the world has to wait until tomorrow to start her campaign against Ai Goto of Japan.
The biggest casualty in the men’s draw is Jan O Jorgensen, seeded 5 for the event as Dicky Palyama defeated him in three tight games. Peter Gade and Tien Minh Nguyen start their campaigns off tomorrow after the rain delay forced their matches into tomorrow’s order of play. Lee Chong Wei made hard work of his opening match against Brice Leverdez after losing the second game before recovering to take the match in three games. Joachim Persson scored an excellent victory over Marc Zwiebler of Germany in three games to set up a 2nd round match against Sony Kuncoro.
The top two seeds are into Round 2 of the Mixed Doubles, top seeded Widianto and Natsir had to come back from a game down to set up a all-Indonesian 2nd round match with Ahmad and Polii. World Champions Laybourn and Rytter Juhl had no problems in progressing to round 2, where they will face the English pair of Heather Olver and Anthony Clark. There was mixed fortunes for the English contingent in Singapore as 8th seeded Robertson and Wallwork were defeated in three games by local pair Triyachart and Yao in Round 1.
Wednesday’s Full Singapore Super Series 2010 Results
Lin Dan In Charge
In spite of the size of the event the Asian Badminton Championships there are relatively few big stars on show, and even fewer stars remaining heading into the finals stage.
Mens Singles
China are guaranteed the title with one veteran and one rookie on deck. Lin Dan had a relatively straight forward win over Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana 22-20, 21-10 to book his spot in the final against the relatively unknown Wang Zhengming. Wang had a more challenging semi-final against Japan’s rising star Kenichi Tago. The young Japanese shuttler wasn’t able to reproduce the magic from his All England run and lost in three close games 21-14, 19-21, 21-16.
Womens Singles
Once again China are guaranteed the title, but this time both players are unknown qualifiers making their first major final appearances. The top seeded Saina Nehwal was unable to go the push her opponent Li Xuerui and easily succumbed in two games 21-17, 21-11. The second seeded Zhou Mi suffered a similar fate against her opponent Liu Xin and lost 21-15, 21-18.
Doubles
While not regularly an event with a strong presence from the Malaysians, Vivian Kah Mun Hoo and Khe Wei Woon have booked their place in the finals against China’s Pan Pan and Tian Qing. The Chinese pair are strong favourites to win the title, but the Malaysians have done well to fight their way through thus far.
The mens doubles features the top seeds from Chinese Taipei Chen Hung Ling and Lin Yu Lang who squeezed out a win over Korea’s Han Sang Hoon and Hwang Ji Man in three close games 21-18, 12-21, 21-18 to book their place against Korea’s fifth seeds Cho Gun Woo and Yoo Yeon Seong who booked their place with a win over Fang Chieh Min and Lee Sheng Mu 21-18, 22-20.
The last finals line up is the mixed doubles which has Yoo Yeon Seong in his second final with partner Kim Min Jung against Malaysia’s Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying.
Full Asian Badminton Championships 2010 Results
Asian Championships Draws
Asia’s top players are in Delhi this week to crown a new Asian champion and with most of the Chinese players opting out, the draws are wide open.
Mens Singles:
World number 1 Lee Chong Wei has opted out of the event as he did in Switzerland last month after his All-England success, leaving the top seeding to go to Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat. The Indonesian plays a qualifier in his opening round match. The second seed is one of the few Chinese players in the draw, but he is one of the favourites for the title. Lin Dan will look to put a poor start to 2010 behind him and claim his first title of the year; he plays Thailand’s Suppanyu Avihingsanon in the opening round. The main challenger will be 6th seed Kenichi Tago, who will try to regain the form that took him to the All-England Final last month; he begins his campaign against Chong Wei Feng of Malaysia.
Women’s Singles
Top seed Saina Nehwal will represent India as she looks to take Asian gold in her home nation; she begins her campaign again Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand. Her main challenge will come from Mi Zhou of Hong Kong, the second seed starts her campaign with a match against Maria Kristin Yulianti of Indonesia. There are also 3 Japanese seeds that could potentially win the title, Eriko Hirose (seeded 3), Ai Goto (seeded 6) and Sayaka Sato (seeded 8th) who could all be a threat to Nehwal’s chances of Asian gold.
Men’s Doubles:
With no Cai and Fu or Lee and Jung this week, the top seeding goes to Chinese Taipei pairing of Chen and Lin. They start their campaign against Liu and Qiu of China. Hashimoto and Hirata of Japan are the second seeds and play against local pairing of Dewalkar and Vishnu in the first round; they are one of 3 Japanese seeds in the men’s doubles. There arelocal expectations in the 3rd seeded Kumar and Thomas of India who play a pair from Bangladesh in the opening round.
Women’s Doubles:
The Japanese have yet another 3 seeds in the women’s doubles, including the top two seeds for the event. Number 1 seeds Fujii and Kakiiwa begin their campaign against Eom and Jang of Korea, with the second seeded Maeda and Suetsuna playing a qualifier in round 1. Chien and Cheng of Chinese Taipei will hope to overcome their higher seeded opponents, with the 3rd seeds beginning their campaign against Choi and Park of Korea in their opening round match.
Asian Badminton Championships 2010 Draws
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