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