Taufik ousts Lin Dan in Singapore Open<\/p>\n
Agencies, Singapore<\/p>\n
Olympic gold medalist Taufik Hidayat and the veteran men's
\ndoubles pairing of Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto reached the
\nfinals of the US$170,000 Singapore Open on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Taufik showed the form that brought him gold in Athens as he
\noverpowered world number one Lin Dan of China in the semifinals.<\/p>\n
The eighth seed won 15-12, 15-8 in 53 minutes to earn a place
\na matchup against China's Chen Hong, the reigning All-England
\nchampion who beat South Korea's Lee Hyun-Il 15-8, 15-11 in the
\nother semi.<\/p>\n
Fourth seeded Candra and Sigit beat top seeded Jens Eriksen
\nand Martin Lundgaard Hansen of Denmark 15-10, 15-5. They will
\nplay sixth seeded Danes Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen on
\nSunday.<\/p>\n
In the match of the day, Taufik was slow off the blocks as the
\nChinese top seed dictated the pace of the exchanges to run up a
\n9-2 lead.<\/p>\n
But once the Indonesian found his rhythm, he clawed his way
\nback to 9-12 and then reeled off six points in a row to take the
\ngame 15-12 in 29 minutes.<\/p>\n
The second game found a confident Hidayat forging ahead 8-2
\nwith some spectacular shots and he had little problems in
\nwrapping up the semifinal 15-8 in another 24 minutes.<\/p>\n
\"When I was trailing in the first game, I remembered the
\ntrauma of losing the Sudirman Cup final,\" Taufik said in
\nreference to last month's straight-games loss to Lin in the final
\nof the world mixed team championships.<\/p>\n
\"That inspired me to take it one step at a time and once I got
\nthe service at 9-12, I felt pretty much in control.\"<\/p>\n
Taufik has a 6-1 win-loss record against Chen, but the
\nIndonesian said his tougher path to the final could be a factor.<\/p>\n
\"I am feeling quite confident about the final, but I must add
\nthat fatigue will definitely be a factor because his matches have
\nbeen much shorter,\" the Bandung native said.<\/p>\n
Both men have enjoyed success at the Singapore Open, Hidayat
\nwinning in 2001 and Chen taking the next two titles.<\/p>\n
\"Against Taufik it will be the same as we have played each
\nother many times,\" Chen said. \" However, I am confident in my
\ncurrent form.\"<\/p>\n
In the women's semifinals, eighth-seeded Zhou Mi of China had
\nfew problems against qualifier Jiang Yan Jiao.<\/p>\n
Zhou, who beat world number one Xie Xingfang in the previous
\nround, spent only 26 minutes on court to register a 11-4, 11-1
\nwin against her countrywoman.<\/p>\n
Zhou meets yet another Chinese in the final, Zhang Ning, the
\ndefending champion and world number two who received a walkover
\non Saturday after Frenchwoman Pi Hongyan pulled out with a back
\ninjury.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/taufik-ousts-lin-dan-in-singapore-open-1447893297",
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