YONEX-SUNRISE HONG KONG OPEN 2009 - Race for Finals bring top players to Hong Kong

The YONEX-SUNRISE BWF World Super Series Masters Finals will be held in Johor Baru, Malaysia on 2-6 December.

Lee Chong Wei is back in action and will tackle Ng Wei of Hong Kong, who was promoted from the qualifying list after Dutchman Dicky Palyama withdrew. After that the Malaysian – who came one day later because of an unexpected award back home –is expected to play in the quarter-final against Nguyen Tien Minh – the latter had beaten Chong Wei in Singapore, but will have to get through Tedjono of Indonesia and either Hafiz Hashim or Sho Sasaki first.

Bao Chunlai will have to face his compatriot Chen Jin as early as the second round. Another match against compatriots to look out for is between Danes Peter Gade and Jan Jorgensen. The youngster had beaten Gade once last year in Indonesia, and then again in Denmark three weeks ago.

Gade will certainly have at heart to put things back in order, he who had never been beaten by a Dane in International competition for more than 10 years before that. The Dane starts his crusade against a qualifier.

Whoever comes on top of the Denmark’s internal affair may take on Taufik Hidayat, seeded 5^th, who has entered the top 3 in the world recently, a proof of his state of form even if the Indonesian is yet to win a Super Series titles since the circuit started back in 2007.

The clash of the first round was to happen in the lower part of the draw where Lin Dan was to meet his 2007 world champion runner up Sony Dwi Kuncoro. But the triple world champion and recent French Open winner didn’t make it to Hong Kong – instead, a certificate indicating he was suffering from an ankle injury landed on the table of the tournament referee Charlotte Ackerman.

Dwi Kuncoro will play instead Thailand’s youngster Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk before tackling either Wong Choong Hann or Japan’s Kenichi Tago. Park Sung Hwan is the expected quarter-final opponent provided he overcomes China’s Chen Long earlier in the draw.

The men’s singles isn’t the only one which will provide the local fans with impressive first round match-ups : the women’s singles will also start out with amazing confrontations. Eighth seed Saina Nehwal plays Yao Jie for a first course, with the fact in mind that the Dutch is finding renewd vigour lately - qualifying for two semi finals in Denmark and France.

The winner could be meeting top seed Wang Lin in the last eight. Not much more luck for 4^th seed Tine Rasmussen who sees Wong Mew Choo as the first opponent while Wang Xin against Adrianti Firdasari is also a mouth watering first round. Zhou Mi, second seed, faces a qualifier first and will be the best hope at home after Wang Chen had to pull out, being treated in Shanghai for a recurrent injury.

As the other categories, the men’s double sees a full draw of amazing pairs – all the top ones in the world and no last minute withdrawal. Every match will be a tight contest from the very start. Top seeds Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan will have no free time to enjoy their Parisian success as they play Taipei’s Fang and Lee.

The Indonesians all gather in the upper part of the draw, with Chandra/Gunawan, Muhammad Ahsan/Bona Septano and the new – old pair of Candra Wijaya / Flandy Limpele to compete all for a spot in the quarter finals.

Korea’s Jung Jae Sung and Lee Yong Dae – who had barely missed a world crown against Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng this summer – are back after competing in the National Korean Games in Daejon. Third seeds, they are set to play China’s Xu Chen and Guo Zhengdong for a difficult entry into the tournament. No rematch however, as China’s top pair have also withdrawn from the event, hoping to fare in Shanghai next week.

Malaysia’s Chan Chong Ming/Chew Choon Engand Lee Wan Wah/Choong Tan Fook are also back in the draw after skipping Europe, but all eyes will be on Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong who come back from Denmark and France with one Gold and one silver. They will face USA’s Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan for another first round thriller.

The draw of the mixed doubles sees all European pairs in the lower part of the draw however, the late withdrawal of both pairs from Denmark (Joachim Fischer-Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen and Thomas Laybourn/Kamilla Rytter Juhl) will make it even tougher for the old continent to shine in Hong Kong.

The match of the day, however, saw Koo Kien Keat and Wong Pei Tty stumble to Korea’s Ko Sung Yun and Ha Jung Eun in an epic battle. The Malaysians did caught back after trailing from far in the decider, but at 19/19, in spite of Koo’s hard and loud smashes, Ko and Ha managed to get the remaining two points for a final 21/18 – 17/21 – 21/19 success.

Korea’s Lee Young Dae and Lee Hyo Jung will also try to make amends for their average performance in India this summer and tackle the competition as first seeds. A tough first hurdle saw them play the Thai pair of Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thungthongkam for what was expected to be the highlight of the day – and it was for the first game, where both pairs showed all their talent.

It was the Thai pair who first reached 20, but they failed to convert their two games points and it was finally Lee Yong Dae who nailed a back hand smash to seal it while the audience was clearly cheering for him.

The second game went by much faster and the Olympic champions secured their tickets for the next round. The good day for Korea and bad day for Thailand continued later one, with Shin Baek Cheol and Kim Min Jung winning their match, while Thailand’s heroes in Japan – Kunchala Voravichitchaikul and Songphon Agrunitayawon stumbling against the young pair of Qiu Zihan and Tian Qing in three games.

The qualification rounds in the singles had started as early as Monday 9 Nov as the Queen Elisabeth Stadium is a smaller venue as others which gave the organizers no option than starting the competition one day earlier than in other Super Series. Some of the rising stars have played before a good crowd already on day 1, such as Michelle Li, whose style of play isn’t without reminding the one of recently retired Xie Xingfang but the Canadian youngster lost focus and was ousted by local Chan Hung Yung.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 2:37 PM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0