Christensen wins dream match against Arbi<\/p>\n
TOKYO (AFP): Peter Gade Christensen emerged victorious in his
\n\"dream\" match against Indonesian star Hariyanto Arbi yesterday to
\nsecure a final berth at the Yonex Japan Open badminton
\ntournament.<\/p>\n
The top-seeded Dane was one game and 0-2 down when he started
\nhitting a series of effective short serves to chalk up point
\nafter point and shift the momentum in his favor to win 4-15, 15-
\n2, 15-6.<\/p>\n
In the men's singles final today, Christensen will take on Luo
\nYigang of China, who beat Atlanta Olympic bronze medalist Rashid
\nSidek of Malaysia 15-17, 15-7, 15-4.<\/p>\n
\"First of all, I'm very happy that I could beat Arbi today,
\nbecause I have never met him before and I have admired his style
\nof play since when I was 15 years old,\" said a jubilant
\nChristensen after the 57-minute match.<\/p>\n
\"So I guess what was wrong in the beginning was, I had too
\nmuch respect and I was not playing my game. His attack was very
\ngood and I wasn't able to do something creative.\"<\/p>\n
\"But in the second game, I began starting with some short
\nserves and getting my game into play. It worked very well,\" added
\nChristensen.<\/p>\n
Arbi, the champion here in 1993 and 1995, was quicker than
\nChristensen at the net, winning some clean points with his
\nattacks in the first game.<\/p>\n
But Christensen's short serves surprisingly caused numerous
\nerrors in Arbi's service return, which often landed in the net,
\nand the 21-year-old Dane won 15 points in a row to tie the
\ncontest at one game all.<\/p>\n
Christensen again overcame a 0-5 deficit in the decider and he
\nnever looked back once he took the lead. The final place was his
\nwhen Arbi hit a smash into the net.<\/p>\n
\"I hit many winners from the net in the first game, but I
\ncouldn't attack at all afterwards because of his short strokes,\"
\nlamented Arbi.<\/p>\n
China's Luo missed three games points at 14-8, 14-11 and 14-13
\nbefore losing a three-point setting in the opener, but showed
\nclever court coverage to move Sidek round and tire him out in a
\ntough 77-minute battle.<\/p>\n
\"I just played on the offensive and lost the first game. So I
\ntried to make him tired because he has been aging and hit a good
\ncombination of drops and clears (high shots). It worked really
\nwell,\" said Luo, 21.<\/p>\n
It will be a re-match between Luo and Christensen, following
\nthe Dane's two-game win at the Grand Prix Final last month.<\/p>\n
In the all-Chinese women's singles semifinals, world champion
\nYe Zhaoying lived up to her pre-tournament promise by scoring a
\nconvincing 11-1, 11-9 victory over world number six Dai Yun in
\njust 20 minutes.<\/p>\n
Seeking to regain the title she won in 1993 and 1996, Ye will
\ntake on second seed Gong Zhichao, who defeated Wang Chen 11-3,
\n11-5.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/christensen-wins-dream-match-against-arbi-1447893297",
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