Fransisca upsets top seed Pi Hongyan<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Young Indonesian shuttler Fransisca Ratnasari Haris produced
\nthe biggest shock so far at the Djarum Indonesia Open badminton
\nchampionship, beating top seed Pi Hongyan of France in the third
\nround of the women's singles here on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The 18-year-old sent world number three Pi packing with a 5-
\n11, 11-7, 13-12 victory.<\/p>\n
There were several other upsets in the women's singles, with
\nthird seed Jun Jae-youn of South Korea crashing out to Eriko
\nHirose of Japan 13-10, 13-10, and eighth seed Ling Wan Ting of
\nHong Kong losing to Lu Lan of China, runner-up at the 2004 World
\nJunior Championship, 11-1, 11-7.<\/p>\n
In the men's singles, the top seeds all advanced on a day that
\nsaw second and third round matches wrapped up.<\/p>\n
Top seed Lin Dan of China defeated Sairul Amar Ayob of
\nMalaysia 15-12, 11-15, 15-10. He will meet 11th seed Wong Choong
\nHann of Malaysia, who edged Nicholas Kidd of England 15-13, 15-4.<\/p>\n
Second seed Bao Chunlai of China eased past Wimpie Mahardi 15-
\n6, 15-3 to book a place in the quarterfinals against fifth seed
\nSony Dwi Kuncoro, a 15-1, 15-7 winner over Alamsyah.<\/p>\n
Defending champion Taufik Hidayat, who is seeded fourth in the
\ntournament, scraped out a 15-8, 15-13 win over China's Chen Yu.
\nThe Olympic gold medalist will face a tough challenge against
\nMuhd Hafiz bin Hasyim of Malaysia in the next round.<\/p>\n
Hafiz dashed the hopes of young Indonesian shuttler Simon
\nSantoso with a 15-13, 15-8 victory.<\/p>\n
Another quarterfinal match will feature third seed Chen Hong
\nof China against Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei. Chen Hong advanced by
\ndefeating compatriot Chen Jin 15-13, 15-11, while Lee Chong Wei
\nposted a 15-9, 15-11 win over Kuang Beng Hong in an all-Malaysian
\nmatch.<\/p>\n
The unfancied Fransisca began the match against her French
\nopponent with very little fanfare, as the crowd at the Bung Karno
\nTennis Indoor Stadium focused on other matches.<\/p>\n
It was not until the third game that the crowd began to sense
\nsomething special was in the making, as Fransisca closed in on
\nthe upset and a trip to the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
After splitting the first two games, Fransisca and Pi became
\ninvolved in a tense deciding game, as the lead swung back and
\nforth between the two determined players.<\/p>\n
Fransisca jumped out to a quick lead before Pi leveled the
\ngame at 3-3. The score then moved from 5-3 to 7-5, 7-7, 9-8, 10-
\n9, 10-10, 11-10 and 11-11.<\/p>\n
The Chinese-born Pi was on the brink of winning the match when
\nshe served at 12-11, but she lost the serve when she hit into the
\nnet.<\/p>\n
Fransisca did not squander the opportunity and leveled the
\nscore, but was also unable to put the match away and turned the
\nserve over.<\/p>\n
The players exchanged service twice before Fransisca ended the
\nmatch 13-12 with a neatly placed backhand that caught Pi flat-
\nfooted.<\/p>\n
"I played like I had nothing to lose and simply tried to keep
\nthe shuttle in play as long as possible. This was my best
\nperformance so far," said Fransisca, who is the sole remaining
\nIndonesian women's singles shuttler in the competition.<\/p>\n
Fransisca will meet Salakjit Ponsana of Thailand in the
\nquarterfinals. In other quarterfinal matches, fourth seed Wang
\nChen of Hong Kong will face Tracey Hallam of England, and second
\nseed Xie Xingfang of China will be pitted against sixth seed
\nKanako Yunekura of Japan.<\/p>\n
Yonekura stopped Firdasari Adrianti, Indonesia's only other
\nplayer in the third round, with a 11-5, 11-6 victory.<\/p>\n
In the mixed doubles, Nova Widhiyanto\/Lilyana Natsir of
\nIndonesia advanced to the quarterfinals with a 15-7, 15-9 victory
\nover Devin Lahardi\/Eny Widiowati.<\/p>",
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