World No. 1 not pulling punches in chase for first HK crown

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei has vowed not to hold back his punches when he squares off with Denmark’s Peter-Gade Christensen in the men’s singles final of the Hong Kong Open today.

Yesterday, world No. 1 and top seed Chong Wei set up a mouth-watering clash against his old foe Christensen after disposing of China’s Bao Chunlai 21-17, 21-12 in a lop-sided semi-final that lasted just 34 minutes.

The Malaysian, who has been showing great promise since recovering from a knee injury that put him out of action for six week, said he won because he had better control of the shuttle despite a strong draught in the stadium.

“I took some time to adjust (to the draught) and as the match progressed I was able to control the game better than Bao. That gave me a lot of confidence,” said Chong Wei in a telephone interview.

He is now hoping to ride on the momentum to land his first Hong Kong Open title after two final failures in 2006 and 2007.

“This is my third final in Hong Kong and I am not going to settle for another runner-up finish. This time, I am going for broke,” he said.

But Chong Wei can expect a strong resistance from Christensen, who blew away Kenichi Tago of Japan 21-12, 21-13 in just 35 minutes.

Chong Wei and Christensen have met twice this year. Chong Wei beat the Dane en route to winning the Malaysian Open in January. A week later, Christensen got his revenge in the final of the Korean Open.

“Our record stands at 1-1 this year. I will be wrong to expect an easy match against Peter tomorrow (today). I will brace myself for the toughest match in this tournament,” said Chong Wei.

“I have good support here and, hopefully, I will be able to give them something to cheer about.”

Chong Wei is the only Malaysian left in the tourament following the exits of Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah and Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty in the men’s and women’s doubles semi-finals respectively yesterday.

Tan Fook-Wan Wah got off to an excellent start before running out of steam against Lars Paaske-Jonas Ras­­mussen of Denmark, going down 21-13, 11-21, 17-21 in 44 minutes.

Just a day ago, the veterans showed great speed and energy to oust compatriots and second seeds Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong.

Top seeds Eei Hui-Pei Tty also got off to a flying start before being subdued by Du Jing-Yu Yang of China.

The Malaysians went down 21-12, 18-21, 16-21 after battling for 56 minutes.

Men’s singles: Peter-Gade Christensen (Den) bt Tago Kenichi (Jpn) 21-12, 21-13; Lee Chong Wei (Mas) bt Bao Chunlai (Chn) 21-17, 21-12.

Men’s doubles: Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen (Den) bt Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah (Mas) 13-21, 21-11, 21-17; Jung Jae-sung-Lee Yong-dae (Kor) bt Alven Yulianto-Hendra Gunawan (Ina) 21-15, 21-14.

Women’s singles: Jiang Yanjiao (Chn) bt Wang Lin (Chn) 21-18, 21-14; Wang Yihan (Chn) bt Wang Xin (Chn) 21-8, 13-21, 21-17.

Women’s doubles: Du Jing-Yu Yang (Chn) bt Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty (Mas) 12-21, 21-18, 21-16; Ma Jin-Wang Xiaoli (Chn) bt Cheng Shu-Zhao Yunlei (Chn) 21-19, 21-14.

Mixed doubles: Nova Widianto-Lilyana Natsir (Ina) bt Hendra Gunawan-Vita Marissa (Ina) 21-14, 21-13; Robert Mateusiak-Nadiezda Kostiuczyk (Pol) bt Fang Chieh-min-Wang Pei-rong (Tpe) 16-21, 21-16, 24-22.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 9:48 AM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0