Hariyanto, Mia win Konica Cup

Hariyanto, Mia win Konica Cup

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Former world champion Hariyanto Arbi battled back against whirlwind Indonesian compatriot Indra Wijaya to win the men's singles Konica Cup title 3-15, 18-14, 15-9 yesterday.

Precocious 17-year-old second seed Mia Audina made it a singles sweep for Indonesia with a stunning defeat of top-seeded world number three Gong Zhichao of China 11-12, 11-8, 11-4.

Indra, the fifth seed who produced the shock of the tournament by ousting Chinese top seed Sun Jun in the semifinals, looked like he was going all the way he overwhelmed Arbi in the first set, then took a 6-0 lead in the second.

But the second-seeded Hariyanto, nicknamed Hari, clawed his way back into the match by changing tactics, slowing things down and drawing Indra into long rallies and prompting unforced errors that eventually gave him the 23-minute second set 18-14.

Hari kept control to win the third set and take home the US$11,000 first prize, but Indra was also happy.

"I'm still happy in defeat as I didn't expect to get this far," said Wijaya, a month before the World Cup in Jakarta.

The women played an equally tight first set, with Gong just holding on to take it 12-11, but after that Mia, consistently showing the ability to wrong-foot her opponent, had the edge.

The young Indonesian, seeded second, ran Gong ragged in the second set to take it 11-8 and then seemed to get even stronger to wrap up the title with an eight-minute third set.

Gong said: "She has many variations in her game and has improved tremendously since we last played. She is also easily among the craftiest players on the circuit right now. She played very well and deserved to win."

Results (prefix number denotes seeding)

Men's singles: 2-Hariyanto Arbi (Ina) bt 5-Indra Wijaya (Ina) 3-15, 18-14, 15-9

Women's singles: 2-Mia Audina (Ina) bt 1-Gong Zhichao (Chn) 11-12, 11-8, 11-4