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YONEX-OCBC US Open - Taufik in cruise control

Posted by Lucas Liau News 11:15 AM

Top seed Taufik Hidayat cruised into the semi-finals of the YONEX-OCBC US Open with A straight games win over Canada’s David Snider while Howard Bach upstaged Tony Gunawan in the mixed doubles on Thursday.

Taufik, who was denied a seventh Indonesia Open title by Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei recently, took less than 30 minutes to subdue the challenge from Snider. The Indonesia will now take on England’s Carl Baxter for a spot in the final. Baxter beat Denmark’s Martin Larsen 21-11, 14-21, 21-16.

The second semi-final will feature Chinese Taipei’s Hsueh Hsuan Yi, 21-6, 21-13 winner over USA’s Howard Shu, against Stefan Wojcikiewicz of Canada. Wojcikiewicz defeated compatriot Andrew Dabeka 21-7, 24-22.

In the mixed doubles, Bach, who partnered Tony Gunawan en route to their world title in 2005, upstaged his partner in the mixed doubles.Despite dropping the first game, Bach and Eva Lee got the better of Gunawan-Nantana Cee Ketputra, with a final scoreline of 21-23, 21-17, 21-13 to book their place in the last four.

In fact, Bach-Lee are the sole Americans in the semi-finals with the other three pairs coming from Canada. The other pairs were Alvin Lau-Jiang Xuelian, Toby Ng-Grace Gao and William Milroy-Fiona McKee.

In the women’s singles, Eva Lee’s good run came to and end in the form of Anna Rice, the Canadian top seed. However, Eva gave Anna a good run for her money before surrendering the match after a 52-minute struggle. Anna won 16-21, 21-19, 21-12. Germany’s Nicole Grether also made it to the semi-finals after her 21-7, 21-13 win over USA’s Rena Wang while Mona Susanto (USA) beat Chen Ya Kuei (USA) 21-12, 21-8. Canada’s Michelle Li was the last player to book her place in the women’s singles semi-finals.

Bach, teaming up with Gunawan, stayed on track for a shot at another title when they beat Wales’ Joe Morgan-James Phillips 21-7, 21-11. Milroy-Ng, both victorious in the mixed doubles with their respective partners, also stayed on track for another title when they beat the USA-Denmark pair of Howard Shu-Agus Wijaya 21-15, 21-12.

Austria’s Jurgen Koch-Peter Zauner and Denmark’s Martin Larsen-Jacob Chemnitz also made the cut for the semi-finals.

In the women’s doubles, Nicole Grether-Charmaine Reid (Germany-USA), Huang Ruiling-Jiang Xuelian (Canada), Priscilla Lun-Mesinee Mangkalakiri (USA) and Chen Ying-Grace Peng (USA) qualified for the semi-finals.