Five RI singles reach second round of Singapore Open

JAKARTA (Agencies): All five Indonesian men's singles shuttlers cruised into the second round of the US$150,000 Konica Cup Singapore Open on Wednesday.

Fifth seeded Budi Santoso had no trouble eliminating Patrick Boonen of the Netherlands 15-1, 15-6. Sixth seeded compatriot Hendrawan defeated Japan's Fumihiko Machida 15-6, 15-6, while eighth seeded Taufik Hidayat overcame Lee Mie-Chow from Chinese Taipei 15-8, 15-6.

Veteran player Hariyanto Arbi, seeded 15th, beat Jeroen van Dijk of the Netherlands 15-6, 15-12, while Marlev Mainaky, who is not seeded, upset 16th-seed Dicky Palyama of the Netherlands 15- 6, 15-6.

Four Danish singles players also managed to reach the second round.

Top-seed Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark did not have to break a sweat when Tjitte Weistra of the Netherlands retired due to injury. Third seeded Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist, soundly defeated Yeoh Kay Bin of Malaysia 15-4, 15-1.

Fourth seeded Peter Rasmussen, the 1997 world champion, crushed Lee Hyun-il of Korea 15-0, 15-4. Rasmussen will face Marlev in the second round.

Denmark's tenth seeded Kenneth Jonassen schooled Singapore's Paini Noor Izwan 15-0, 15-5.

Second seeded Fung Permadi, an Indonesian playing for Chinese Taipei, defeated Swede Daniel Eriksson 15-5, 15-2.

Three Malaysian shuttlers also reached the second round. Ong Ewe Hock beat Chinese rookie Lu Congcong 15-8, 15-3, while Rashid Sidek overcame Italian Klaus Raffeiner 15-5, 15-4. Unseeded Yap Yong Jyen managed to upset 14th seeded Rio Suryana of Australia 15-13, 15-9.

Thailand Open champion Luo Yigang of China, seeded 11th, overcame Ruud Kuijten of the Netherlands 15-1, 15-11.

Twelfth seeded Thomas Johansson of Sweden defeated Gerben Bruijstens of the Netherlands 15-11, 15-6, while Japan's Keita Masuda, seeded 13th, was pushed to the limit in eliminating Chien Yu-Hsiu of Chinese Taipei 4-15, 15-13, 15-12. (yan)