BINGO BONANZA PHILLIPINE OPEN - Chen Long in fine form, Zhou Mi on track

Posted by Lucas Liau Cheng Long, News, Phillipine Open 8:38 AM

Chen Long qualified for his second Grand Prix Gold final in as many weeks when he crushed compatriot Zhou Wenlong in three MAS GP MS CHINA 1 98 games while Zhou Mi stayed on track to defend her title in the Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open in Pasig City on Saturday.

Chen Long, defeated at the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold final last Sunday by Lee Chong Wei, takes on China-born Hu Yun, representing Hong Kong, who upset Du Pengyu in the other semi-final. Both Chen Long and Hu won 21-14, 10-21, 21-14 and 17-21, 21-14, 21-13 respectively.

With Saturday’s win, Chen Long continues his impressive run on the international circuit. Besides the runner-up finish in Malaysia, he was also runner-up at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Grand Prix Gold tournament in Hyderabad in February and finished second to Bao Chunlai at the Asian Championships in Suwon (South Korea) in April.

In India, Chen Long, the 2007 World Junior Champion, beat World No 1 Lee Chong Wei and in Malaysia last week, stunned Indonesia’s former world champion Taufik Hidayat in a surprise defeat for the Indonesian.

Zhou Sing RS In the women’s singles, Zhou Mi was given a torrid time by China’s Jiang Yanjiao but eventually prevailed to win 13-21, 21-14, 22-20. Zhou Mi will take on China’s Wang Xin, who beat Wang Shixian, also from China, 21-13, 21-6.

Indonesia prevented China from making an appearance in the men’s doubles final when Mohammad Ahsan-Bona Septano, the top seeds, beat Chen Ziben-Shen Ye 21-18, 21-17 to book their place in the final.

The Indonesians will take on team mates Alvent Yulianto-Hendra Gunawan in the final. Despite dropping the first game 18-21, Alvent-Hendra recovered to stop Sun Junjie-Tao Jiaming 21-10, 21-11 in the next two games to assure Indonesia of at least one title.

Indonesia will also be gunning for another title in the women’s doubles from the pair of Shendy Puspa Irawati-Meiliana Jauhari who will feature against China’s Gao Ling-Wei Yili.

The Indonesians dispatched Rie Eto-Yu Wakita of Japan 21-15, 21-13 while Gao Ling-Wei Yili triumphed 21-15, 21-15 over Hong Kong’s Chan Hung Yung-Chau Hoi Wah.

China, however, are assured of the mixed doubles title as Zhang Nan-Lu Lu qualified for the final against compatriots Chen Ziben-Zhang Jinkang.

Zhang-Lu beat teammates Qiu Zihan-deng Yuting 21-13, 21-12 while Chen-Zhang beat Indonesia’s Muhammad Rijal-Debby Susanto 21-15, 22-20.