INDONESIA OPEN 2010 QF – More thrills to come

The men’s singles event will have everyone gripping the edge of their seats. Taufik Hidayat (photo), the host country’s absolute favourite for the tournament, will face Vietnamese fighter Nguyen Tien Minh.

“Taufik is a very experienced player. His net play is really dangerous.  It is going to be a really tough match against him tomorrow, but I will try to relax and give my best,” said Nguyen at his post quarter-final match interview.  Nguyen ousted Japan’s Sho Sasaki 21-14, 21-15.

Taufik shares the same sentiment with his opponent regarding his semi-final match. “It is not going to be easy as Nguyen is a very good player,” acknowledged Taufik. The second-seeded Indonesian won his ticket to the semi-finals after beating his compatriot Simon Santoso 21-14, 13-21, 21-13.

The other men’s singles match is a repeat of last week’s semi-final between Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Lee Chong Wei (photo).  In Singapore, Sony beat all odds to reign over the world #1 and eventually became the Singapore Open Champion.

“It is a new tournament and a new match. Anything can happen. I’m all prepared that it is going to be tiring and tough to play against Lee Chong Wei, but as always, I will just try to enjoy my match and not to put pressure on myself. Of course, I feel ready to repeat my victory again against Lee Chong Wei,” said Sony who refused to comment much about his semi-final clash with the top seed. “Let’s see what happens tomorrow.”

Sony, who seemed to be on top of his form after coming back from his injury, had an easy win today against Wong Choong Hann. On the other hand, Chong Wei was stretched to tiebreaker game by Kenichi Tago, 21-12, 8-21, 21-12.

The doubles clashes are nothing short of thrilling as well. In mixed doubles, Nova Widianto / Liliyana Natsir will face Robert Mateusiak / Nadiezda Zieba from Poland. Both pairs performed brilliantly today. Nova/Liliyana commanded victory over Thai pair Sudket Prapakamol / Saralee Thoungthongkam in 21-16, 21-14.  Meanwhile Mateusiak/Zieba dashed away young hopes for Indonesia.  They defeated Fran Kurniawan Teng / Pia Zebadiah Bernadet in exciting three-game match that ended 16-21, 23-21, 21-15.

“This is our first time ever advancing this far into the tournament. We always find it hard to play in this hall since the spectators are so loud that we could barely hear each other on court,” commented Robert.

Scratch pairing of Indonesia’s Hendra Setiawan and Anastasia Russkikh of Russia advanced into the tournament much further than expected. The duo, who just started to play with each other last week in Singapore, slowly but steadily climbed their way up to semi-finals. After coming back from a game down to upset sixth seeded Voravichitchaikul/Anugritayawon in the second round, they had a similarly arduous task against home ground heroes Muhammad Rijal / Debby Susanto. They managed to survive a late rally by the younger players and win the match 21-15, 18-21, 23-21.

Waiting at the other side of the court would be seventh seed Ko Sung Hyun and Ha Jung Eun who upset the reigning World Champions and recently crowned Singapore Open Champions Thomas Laybourn / Kamilla Rytter Juhl in 21-17, 21-16.

Another dual-country combination that seems to be gaining momentum is Vita Marissa / Saralee Thoungthongkam (photo). Ha Jung Eun / Jung Kyung Eun had to encounter the same fate as Mizuki Fuji / Reika Kakiiwa as they were both defeated by the Indonesian-Thai pairing.  Ha/Jung crumbled 19-21, 19-21 under the relentless pressure that the whole stadium seemed to be inflicting upon them.

Taiwan’s unstoppable youngsters Fang Chieh Min / Lee Sheng Mu once again thwarted Tony Gunawan / Howard Bach (USA) with little struggle in 21-15, 21-18, as was the case in last week’s Singapore Open final.  Gunawan was actually the last Indonesian-born player left in the men’s doubles after  Nathan Robertson / Anthony Clark had earlier defeated Muhammad Ahsan / Bona Septano 21-19, 21-12.  The Englishmen go on to face Fang/Lee in the semis.