2009 YONEX Australian Open - Huang-Tang raise Aussie hopes

Posted by Lucas Liau Australian Open, News 10:33 AM

The Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre is set to reverberate on finals day as Huang Chia Chi-Tang He Tian qualified for the women’s doubles final of the YONEX Australian Open 2009 on Saturday.

Not to be outdone, arch rivals New Zealand will also have one representative in the final on Sunday when Henry Tam-Donna Haliday made it to the gold medal match in the mixed doubles.

But the day’s loudest cheers went to Huang-Tang who rose to the occasion to deny India’s Anjali Kalita-Jyotshna Polavarapu 21-16, 23-21 and will now take on another Indian pair, Aparna Balan-Shruti Kurian, in the final. Balan-Kurian beat New Zealand’s Danielle Barry-Donna Haliday 21-15, 21-12.

Although the Australian girls trailed in both games, Huang-Tang eventually broke past the Indian pair to claim victory.

In the mixed doubles, Tam-Haliday, much to the disappointment of the home fans, stopped Benjamin Walklate-Kate Wilson Smith in a thrilling three-game encounter. The New Zealand pair showed greater composure to snatch a 21-23, 22-20, 21-18 win.

However, in the final, Tam-Haliday have to be at their very best as they will be up against the experienced pair from Hong Kong Yohan Wiratama-Chau Hoi Wah. The top seeds beat New Zealand’s Joe Wu-Danielle Barry in straight games,21-9,21-7.

The men’s singles saw Indonesian Yunus Alamsyah march into the final with a clean win over fellow countryman Andreas Adityawarman 21-18, 21-9. The former will meet compatriot, Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka, who took 51 minutes to dispose Hong Kong top seed Chan Yan Kit 16-21, 21-13, 21-19.

There were no surprises in the women’s singles as play followed the script with both No 1 and No 2 seeds making the final.

Hong Kong’s Yip Pui Yin, the top seed, and Indonesia’s Maria Febe Kusumastuti will conterst the final after their 21-15, 19-21, 21-17 and 21-12, 21-9 wins over Czech Republic’s Kristina Ludikova and Malaysia’s Anita Kaur respectively.

The men’s doubles will follow the same formula as the women’s singles, with the first and second seed to meet in the final match. India’s Rupesh Kumar-Thomas Sanave, the No 1 seeds, disposed of compatriots and fourth seeds, Kona Tarun-Arun Vishnu, 21-14, 21-13 while the Malaysian pairing of Gan Teik Chai-Tan Bin Shen cruised comfortably to a 21-19, 21-10 victory over India’s Akshav Dewalkar-Jishnu Sanyal.