Malaysia's Lee brushes aside Zhengming to enter semis in Seoul

Posted by Lucas Liau Top News 4:25 PM

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei turned in a sensational display to boot out China’s rising star Wang Zhengming 21-14, 21-19 in the quarter-finals of the US$1.2mil South Korea Open in Seoul yesterday.
Now, the top seed and defending champion is ready to kick out another of China’s future hopes and set up a probable meeting with their big brother – Lin Dan.
Yesterday, Chong Wei held court for 37 minutes against world junior champion Zhengming to set up a semi-final date with Du Pengyu.
The 23-year-old Pengyu, a skilful player from the back-up squad, broke the resilience of Kenichi Tago of Japan with a 21-17, 21-11 win in another quarter-final yesterday.

The other semi-final will be between three-time world champion Lin Dan and Indonesian Simon Santoso.
Lin Dan defeated Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia 21-13, 8-21, 21-15 in a drab quarter-final match.
Both may be super stars in their own right, but they both played well below par yesterday.
The 26-year-old Simon, who aspires to take over his country’s number one spot from Taufik this year, overcame a stubborn Peter-Gade Christensen of Denmark 21-17, 21-18.
National singles coach Rashid Sidek picks Chong Wei to be the favourite against Pengyu.
“On current form, Chong Wei is at his best and in peak form. He should not face any problems (against Pengyu),” said Rashid.
“No doubt Pengyu is a fighter and we should not underestimate him but he lacks experience, speed and power.”
Chong Wei had beaten Pengyu in their first three meetings before the Chinese showed great resolve to steal one game during their last meeting at the Malaysia Open last year.
Rashid hoped that Lin Dan would come out triumphant against Simon.
“We were hoping for a meeting between Lin Dan and Chong Wei at the Malaysia Open last week but the China shuttler conceded a walkover (citing abdominal injury),” said Rashid.
“Hopefully, the two will clash in the final here.”
But based on current form, a resurgent Simon could make life difficult for Lin Dan.
In the women’s singles, South Korean Sung Ji-hyun and Thailand’s Porntip Buranaprasertsuk will be seeking to break China’s domination when they take on Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian of China respectively in the semi-finals.
Yesterday, Ji-hyun brought cheers to the home crowd when she upset top seed Wang Xin of China 11-21, 21-9, 21-19 in the quarter-finals.
Results:
(All quarter-finals)
Men’s singles: Du Pengyu (Chn) bt Kenichi Tago (Jpn) 21-17, 21-11; Lee Chong Wei (Mas) bt Wang Zhengming (Chn) 21-14, 21-19; Simon Santoso (Ina) bt Peter-Gade Christensen (Den) 21-17, 21-16; Lin Dan (Chn) bt Taufik Hidayat (Ina) 21-13, 8-21, 21-15.
Men’s doubles: Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen (Den) bt Mads Conrad-Petersen-Jonas Rasmussen (Den) 21-9, 21-13; Jung Jae-sung-Lee Yong-dae (Kor) bt Kim Ki-jung-Kim Sa-rang (Kor) 21-19, 21-15; Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong (Kor) bt Fang Chieh-min-Lee Sheng-mu (Kor) 21-8, 10-21, 21-16; Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (Mas) bt Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Ong Soon Hock (Mas) 21-17, 12-21, 21-16.
Women’s singles: Wang Yihan (Chn) bt Jiang Yanjiao (Chn) 21-18, 21-13; Sung Ji-hyun (Kor) bt Wang Xin (Chn) 11-21, 21-9, 21-19; Wang Shixian (Chn) bt Tine Baun (Den) 21-15, 12-21, 24-22; Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (Tha) bt Sayaka Sato (Jpn) 21-12, 17-21, 21-6.
Women’s doubles: Du Jing-Pan Pan (Chn) bt Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna (Jpn) 19-21, 21-15, 21-17; Tian Qing-Zhao Yunlei (Chn) bt Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa (Ind) 21-16, 21-15; Wang Xiaoli-Yu Yang (Chn) bt Lok Yan Poon-Ying Suet Tse (Hkg) 21-11, 21-10; Cheng Wen-hsing-Chien Yu-chin (Tpe) bt Cheng Shu-Ma Jin (Chn) 22-20, 13-21, 23-21.
Mixed doubles: Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei (Chn) bt Tantowi Ahmad-Lilyana Natsir (Ina) 21-18, 19-21, 22-20; Tao Jiaming-Tian Qing (Chn) bt Chen Hung-ling-Cheng Wen-hsing (Tpe) 21-18, 19-21, 21-14; Xu Chen-Ma Jin (Chn) bt He Hanbin-Yu Yang (Chn) 21-13, 21-13; Ko Sung-hyun-Ha Jung-eun (Kor) bt Joachim Fischer Nielsen-Christinna Pedersen (Den) 15-21, 21-18, 21-18.