AVIVA Singapore Open Finals – Robertson and Clark create history

“I don’t think people will underestimate us again”. Nathan Robertson couldn’t be more on the spot. After the show the English duo gave on center court today in Singapore, it is more than unlikely that any pair in the world will come on stage against them without rehearsing or watching some video. And if their future opponents rely on this specific footage to study their style of play, they will have few weaknesses to find. The level of badminton from the English was just amazing and the 2008 Olympic champions Markis Kido and Handra Setiawan were stunned, clueless and under constant pressure from their opponents.

There was no space, no solution for the mighty Indonesians, who could not express their usual talent - they weren’t allowed to during the whole 26 minutes they were on court and ended with a shock 21/12 – 21/11 wake up call.

“We knew that they would come on strong at the beginning so we wanted to play well from the start and take it from there. And obviously, we played very well from scratch and all throughout the match. Our level was the best one I’ve seen, close to perfect as I think we made only two mistakes in the whole game. We never let them take the attack and control the rallies. It just felt fantastic to beat such a pair which is amongst the very best in the world. After beating Koo and Tan earlier, this is an amazing tournament for us” stated Nathan Robertson, while Anthony Clark was busy with phone calls from home.

This is the best ever performance for the English duo, who were partners before the Athens Olympics before focusing on their mixed careers. They had scooped titles then, but in lower ranked tournaments and this success in Singapore comes as a career high and is a first in England’s history.

“We’ve both experienced the top level with our partners in mixed, and now, it feels great to achieve this in doubles as well. It’s great for England to perform in this event. We now hope to fare well in the upcoming world championships. This win might give us a seeded position which we hope to bank on for a good performance in India” Robertson.

Zhou Mi stuns Xie

Earlier in the day, Zhou Mi and Xie Xingfang had played against each other, just like in the old days. Only this time, the Hong Kong player showed a much better stamina towards the end of the game, while, a few years ago, Xie would have matched her speed and accuracy all the way. Not today, as, after the first two games which were just impressive for the variety of shots and precision, Xie collapsed and let another title slip away from her – a curse that has been following her ever since the Beijing Olympic Games where she lost to her compatriot Zhang Ning.

The ever smiling Zhou, who keeps telling everyone that she plays for the fun of it with no pressure, kept the pace going in the last game that she won 21/10.

“ I changed my tactics towards the end and it worked. But it was a difficult match. Xie is a tough player, she’s tall and is powerful, so it was a tough battle. But I’m really thrilled as it is my first title for this year” said Zhou.

The Hong Kong resident had been in the final in the Malaysia Open at the beginning of the year, but had since been ousted by Pi Hongyan in Korea Open semi final and had been beaten by other Chinese players for all other tournaments she had played in this year. This victory comes as a sweet revenge for Zhou, who also has her eyes on the upcoming world championships. “I will want to enjoy myself there, but it is true that it will be an important tournament as it is the first time since my come back that I can play in a major event like this. So, I hope to do well there” she added in a smile.

Bao back in shape

If the public was clearly supporting Boonsak Ponsana for the men’s single final – the last one of the day - the Thai had to bow to a fitter opponent. Ponsana who for once was wearing a yellow jersey while his Chinese opponent had opted for a black shirt, however didn’t let go that easily and forced Bao Chunlai to play hard and the ‘Thai wonder’ gave him a great run for his money.

Bao’s win in the first game may have been the key to this match as Ponsana had dug deep the previous night against Park Sung Hwan and was hoping for a straight games win. He did however fight his way back into the match by securing the second game 21/16, and things felt even between the two shuttlers until Bao used his height to save energy and vary from stiff attacks to longer rallies, toying with Ponsana.

The former law student matched him at the net, but his defense was not as sharp towards the end where he had to retrieve the shuttles closer and closer to the ground as the left hander flowed to a 21/15 victory in the third game. The left handed shuttler mentioned that he had been bothered by few close line calls.

“It affected me for a while, but then, I told myself that I had fought so hard to be in the final that I wouldn’t waste all the effort and I tried to focus back on the match. But I am glad I have won another super Series”

Zhang Yawen gets half the job done

In the women’s double, Greysia Polii and Nitya Krishinda Maheswari were just not good enough today to match the experience, the accuracy and the speed of China’s Zhao Tingting and Zhang Yawen. Zhao, who has been trading partners for the past 5 years has a versatile game and Zhang Yawen was just impressive at the net. Very focused, very sharp in all their strokes, the 5^th seeded Chinese pair were never troubled by the friendly Indonesians and gave China their first gold of the Open with a 21/14 – 21/13 victory.

“Our opponents improved a lot since last time we played them at the French Open and they have more chemistry and have improved in skills as well” said Zhao Tingting. “We didn’t think too much of the outcome today and went out to play our best even if there was some pressure. We had prepared well and this is a result we’re very happy with” added her compatriot.

Zhang Yawen wasn’t to bring back a second title in the mixed as she and partner Xie Zhongbo failed to turn their first game success into an overall win against their compatriots Zheng Bo and Ma Jin. The former world number one’s were on top 21/19, but lost the second one by a small margin 18/21 before Zheng Bo’s great attacks proved lethal for an easier win in the decider 21/10 for the exact same line score as the women’s single event.

China brings back 3 gold from this event – a good result without Lin Dan being in Singapore – the Chinese will however be back in action next week in Jakarta where all the players will fly to for the second leg.

Final results

MS : Boonsak Ponsana (THA) beat Bao Chunlai (CHN) : 19/21 – 21/16 – 21/15

WS : Zhou Mi (HKG) beat Xie Xingfang (CHN) : 21/19 – 18/21 – 21/10

MD : Clark/Robertson (ENG) beat Kido/Setiawan (INA) : 21/12 – 21/11

WD : Zhang/Zhao (CHN) beat Maheswari/Polii (INA) : 21/14 – 21/13

Posted by Lucas Liau on 11:32 AM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0