YONEX JAPAN OPEN 2009 - Ups and Downs

World No 1, Lee Chong Wei put on a great display today, stunning Boonsak Ponsana (THA), the runner-up in last week-end’s LI-NING China Masters, in just 33 minutes.

From the very start, Chong Wei looked focused on the shuttle and very eager to show who was the boss on court. Ponsana, unable to control the shuttle which seemed slow, was behind for all of the first game with large margins – 3/13 then, 9/21.

In the second game Ponsana fared better, but Chong Wei’s net play was brilliant and he was finding his way around the court much easier than an obviously tired Ponsana, who led only once after the first point of the second game. Lee was then to take the lead and finish it off at 21/15.

“Maybe he was tired after last week’s performance, but he is a good player, so I’m glad I could pull off a win in spite of my injury,” said Chong Wei. “I feel the pain a little bit, so, I will not expect much from this tournament, and I’ll just take one match at the time and see what’s coming” he added.

Apart from Joachim Persson (DEN), who once again bit the dust against Korea’s Shon Wan Ho 21/13 – 21/13, all the other favourites came through the first round, with a rather easy path for Taufik Hidayat (INA) over Chan Yan Kit (HKG), especially in the first part of the match.

“I had a good start, which is unusual for me in tournaments like this. So I took a big lead first, but then, in the second game, it got more difficult as he fought for every point,” said Taufik, who still managed to beat the Hong Kong player in straight games, 21/9 – 21/18.

The Indonesian will take on Andrew Smith (ENG) on Thursday. Peter Gade (DEN), wearing a new line of clothing just like Taufik and Lee Chong Wei, fought against fellow European Rajiv Ouseph (ENG), who had good moments, but collapsed on the last hurdle, allowing Gade to score the last five points at 16/16 in the second game.

The Dane is now alone to represent his country as Jan Jorgensen hadn’t made the trip to Tokyo while Christian Lind Thomsen (DEN), a new face in Super Series – could not match the speed of Vietnam’s Nguyen Tienh Minh despite the coaching from the great Morten Frost.

Bao Chunlai (CHN) and Chen Long (CHN) advanced to the next round, but the highlight of the day saw Wong Choong Hann (MAS) take on Korea’s Park Sung Hwan. In spite of a slow start, the Korean soldier took an easy second game and finished it off 21/12 in the decider.

Japan’s Kenichi Tago, also made a strong impression after he had been invited to the press conference with the three big names in men’s singles - Taufik, Chong Wei and Gade the previous night. He came out with an impressive 28 minute win over Ng Wei of Hong Kong.

It wasn’t Hong Kong’s day. After Ng Wei, Chan Yan Kit in the men’s singles, Wang Chen’s withdrawal in the women’s singles, the other two top singles shuttlers from Hong Kong were also shown the way out.

If it could have been expected from Yip Pui Yin who was facing the challenging Porntip Buranaprasertsuk from Thailand, it was certainly not an easy bet that second seed Zhou Mi would not progress to the second round. Especially since she had never lost to her opponent of the day, Adriyanti Firdasari.

Firdasari was clearly knowing what she was doing, helped by her coach Marleve Mainaky, and after a 56 minute battle, was declared winner over the main favourite.

“I was not fit enough in the deciding game, and I have been feeling a little bit more pressure lately,” hinted Zhou Mi.

Firdasari, on her side, was all smiles : “It’s the first time I beat her as she’d beaten me twice before, so, it’s a great victory even though I had a tough first round. Now, I will have to play (Nicole) Grether from Germany, and hopefully qualify for the quarter-finals,” she said.

This quarter of the draw is quite open, with Eriko Hirose (JPN) and Wong Mew Choo (MAS) having to fight for the other spot in the quarters.

If most favourites secured their second round tickets in this event, a lot had to dig deep to avoid an early exit. Wang Yihan had to go overtime and play a three games tie against Japan’s tiny Ai Goto. Pi Hongyan (FRA) kept it to 2, but had to get back from a 7/16 position in the first game against Korea’s Bae Seung Hee.

Saina Nehwal (IND), who had one of the worst draws, had to bow to China’s Jiang Yanjiao, in three games after she almost lost in straight games, led 14/19 in the second and one game down. But even if the Indian was able to secure the second game, she still lost the third one 14/21.

The giant Kim Moon Hi from Korea saved two match points against Singapore’s Zhang Beiwen before finishing it off 23/21 in the decider. The other Wang’s – Xin and Lin – had less trouble and also got into the second round where Wang Lin will play her compatriot Zhu Lin while Wang Xin will take on Denmark’s Tine Rasmussen, who made a strong impression against Juliane Schenk on Wednesday.

Two former world champions were fighting in the men’s doubles first round, with Tony Gunawan and Howard Bach, world champions in 2005, facing the 2003 champions - Denmark’s Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen.

And as expected, the battle was fierce and neither pair wanted to let go. After a tight contest in the first and second game – won by each pair – the Americans were more steady and kept in the lead throughout the whole third game – not by a big margin, but enough to win in one of the tightest matches – 21/19 – 17/21 – 21/18.

Another former world champion, long time away from the courts, Halim Hariyanto made a winning comeback with Flandi Limpele, defeated China’s youngsters Sun Junjie and Tao Jiaming in three games. Candra Wijaya, the third Indonesian legend, will not make it to the second round as he and his brother Rendra collapsed in the third game against their compatriots Joko Riyadi/Luluk Hadiyanto.

But the biggest surprise of the day saw second seeds Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong bow to Japan’s Kenichi Hakayaka/Kenta Kazuno 16/21 – 20/22. The Malaysians had their chance in the second game, which they led by up to seven points before losing track.

The local hopes were dashed by Korea’s Shin Baek Cheol and Jang Ye Na, in the mixed doubles, as the Koreans beat the new idols Shintaro Ikeda and Reiko Shiota from Japan.

Park Joo Bong, Japan’s national coach, had warned before the event that they were still not at their best and needed some time to prepare – and he was proven right. In the packed stadium, there was excitement and much expectation in the air throughout the match, and with a suspenseful finish, the Japanese pair fought back from 13/19 to 19/19 before Shin found the right shots to finish it off 21/19 in the decider.

All other favourites made it through, except for India’s seventh seeds V. Diju and Jwala Gutta , who had the bad luck to play in the first round former winners of this event, Thailand’s Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thungthongkam.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 9:04 AM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0