LI-NING CHINA OPEN 2009 - Clark-Kellogg in fiery form, Yong Dae-Hyo Jung gain sweet revenge

To beat them in China, on their home soil, probably made this victory even sweeter. Donna Kellogg and Anthony Clark were all smiles when they got off Court No 3 of the Pudong YuanShen Stadium, in Shanghai, after beating He Hanbin and Yu Yang, the bronze medalists from the last Olympic Games. The result – a straight games win of 21/16 – 21/14.

“I don’t think we could have played any better than that,” said a delighted Clark.

“It makes up for our last outing in Hong Kong, where I played terribly against the Polish pair. I’m not going to take any excuses for that match then, but today was much better. The hall is big and slow and it fit our game much better. Sometimes, He (He Hanbin) hits the shuttle so hard that we don’t know where it’s coming from but we were able to play at our pace today.”

“There are days like that, it’s all about being the best on the day. Few years ago, there used to be three of top four pairs in the world that shared the titles. Now, mixed doubles has never been so open and competitive. Maybe 10 or 12 pairs can win the major tournaments. The last three Super Series have been won by three different pairs – that’s clearly a sign,” added Clark.

The English pair will have another shot at revenge as they are next to play a pair who had beaten them last time – Chinese Taipei’s Chou Chia Chi and Chen Hong Lin.

Their compatriots almost pulled an upset as well, taking 2^nd Seeds Ma Jin and Zheng Bo to a deciding game later in the evening.

The new duo of Liliyana Natsir and Lahardi Fitriawan Devin had little problems to overcome Kiwis Henry Tam and Donna Haliday but will face their first big test as a new pair on Thursday, against Kim Jung Min and Shin Baek Cheol of Korea, who beat India’s V. Diju and Jwalla Gutta, 5^th seeds but who had to concede a walk over during the game as Jwala Gutta suffered from a pulled thigh muscle.

It was the same for Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen, who had to pull out as Xie has not yet recovered from his recurrent health problems.

For Lee Yong Dae and Lee Hyo Jung, however, all went smoothly with a sweet revenge over the duo which has stunned them in Hong Kong, Pia Zebadiah and Fran Kurniawan of Indonesia. This time, the Olympic champions, wearing a bright yellow jersey, saw off the Indonesians 21/11 – 21/14.

In the men’s doubles, Indonesians had mixed results with Olympic champions Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan going through, just like Yonathan Dasuki and Rian Sukmawan – over Lee Wan Wah and Choong Tan Fook – but legends Candra Wijaya and Flandy Limpele were shown the exit by inspired pair of Fang Chieh Min and Lee Sheng Mu from Chinese Taipei.

As for Alven Yulianto and Hendra Gunawan, 6^th seeds, they were shown the door by compatriots Muhammad Ahsan and Bona Septano.

Apart from one pair from Thailand, one from Korea and one from Malaysia, the remaining women’s doubles are either from Chinese Taipei or mainland China, which should provide some opportunities for the young guns to shine against their older compatriots – and hope for some upsets.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 9:59 AM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0