YONEX JAPAN OPEN 2009 - Simon says... Chong Wei is out!

Santoso could be relieved: he was very close to wasting a life time opportunity to beat the World No 1 shuttler. Against Lee Chong Wei, who staged a late rally towards the end of the third game, the young Indonesian had ups and downs, and almost failed to convert an impressive leading margin at the end of the match.

Chong Wei had started out as usual, with a pace very few can follow, and he was soon in the lead 19/10. “I couldn’t follow up with his pace at first. He was just playing too well,” admitted Santoso.

But the young Indonesian fought, having in mind the humiliation he felt in Singapore last year, when Chong Wei had scored 15 straight points in the final of a Super Series !

This time, Santoso didn’t let go and got a first sign that his opponent was not at his best, moving up to 17/19 before Lee still nailed the first game 21/19. The second game was all Santoso’s, moving better along the court, and mostly, finding the right speed to match the Malaysian good vision.

Leveling up at one game all after his 21/15 success, Simon then felt he had the chance. The third and last game couldn’t kick off on a higher note. In control of the net, making fewer mistakes than Chong Wei, the Indonesian seemed to have found his best rhythm and efficiency rate : he was soon 11/3 in the lead, while eyebrows starting being raised in the public.

Changing sides made no difference. Chong Wei was playing with his head down, making some mistakes and letting Simon take control of the rallies. 15/7, then 17/12. A turning point where Santoso may have felt he was close to defeating the favourite, and started slowing up a bit.

The game’s shape then changed drastically. Chong Wei, keeping calm, looked like the boss on court again, showing a little boy how to play badminton, while Simon was obviously searching for the right thing to do, keeping the rallies going or trying to end it up as soon as he could.

Whatever he tried, however, Chong Wei had an answer to it, and soon, the Malaysian was all fired up, attacking most shuttles and advancing right after towards the net to finish it up. At 17/17, then again 19/19, it looked like the Malaysian had taken the psychological edge over his younger opponent.

Yet, before the eyes of Marleve Mainaky who looked troubled on the coach’s bench, Santoso was very lucky when Chong Wei missed a very easy shot at the net at 19/19, pushing the shuttle way too long on a rush, while Santoso had already stopped playing, thinking the rally was over. This beginner’s mistake may have cost Chong Wei the match as Simon couldn’t hope for a better present – he scored on his first match point right after to clinch one of his most important successes on the tour, after a final 19/21 – 21/15 – 21/19 victory.

“This is clearly one of the best victories of my career. I had beaten him twice before, but he wasn’t at this level, nor the world’s number one. This feels really great that I was able to keep up in the decider to win. It will boost my confidence for the future as I intend to improve my world ranking next,” said the 24 Year old from Jakarta.

“And I am also very happy that two of my team mates made it to the quarter-finals as well. Playing against Sony tomorrow will be interesting. I have never beat him in International tournament yet – only in National event – but tomorrow might be different as I will really give my best, “ added Santoso.

Dwi Kuncoro, winner in 2008, finished his game just at the same time as his younger compatriot, against China’s Chen Long, also in three games, and has already assured Indonesia with a spot in the semi-final, while Taufik Hidayat will be eying at another one when he takes on Park Sung Hwan of Korea in another quarter-final.

The Indonesian wonder played just above par to tackle England’s last representative Andrew Smith, who put up a good show against the former Olympic champion.

Bao Chunlai and Peter Gade will meet in one of the highlights of the day on Friday, after the Dane beat India’s P. Kashyap and Bao had a much more difficult time to get rid of Korea’s Shon Wan Ho, actually scoring less points all together than his opponent but winning the crucial points in the first and decisive game, 21/19 – 7/21 – 21/17.

The last quarter- final will feature Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh against Japan’s Kazuteru Kozai, who was promoted from the qualifying round, and who beat his compatriot Koichi Saeki for an unexpected quarter-final spot – his first ever at this level.

The good day for Indonesia continued in the men’s doubles after three pairs qualified for the last eight stage – this time in three different quarters, in an event where there will be no Chinese on Friday after the loss of Chai Biao /Zhang Nan to Malaysia’s Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Mohd Fairuzizuan Tazari.

Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan looked in form and had a rather easy path to the quarters with a straight games victory over former stars Flandy Limpele- Halim Hariyanto, while Yonathan Dasuki-Rian Sukmawan created the biggest upset of the day by beating compatriots Mohamed Ahsan and Bona Septano, who had been finalists of this event last year in Tokyo.

Denmark’s Matthias Boe-Carsten Mogensen put on a good show as well to beat Luluk Hadiyanto and Joko Riyadi of Indonesia.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 9:08 AM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0