Hendrawan, Marlev move into Japan Open quarters

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian men's singles players Hendrawan and Marlev Mainaky reached the quarterfinals of the US$180,000 Yonex Japan Open in Tokyo on Thursday but teammate Hariyanto Arbi made an early exit Wednesday after being tumbled by a lesser-known opponent.

The country's men's doubles, who are preparing for the Olympic Games in Sydney in September, managed to reach the quarterfinals.

Indonesia's women's singles and mixed doubles players also survived challenges in the second round to secure berths in the quarters.

Fourth seeded Hendrawan, who only reached the quarterfinals in the All England and Swiss Open last month, managed to overcome Boonsak Polsana of Thailand 11-15, 15-8, 15-6. Earlier Thursday, the Indonesian had an easy win over unseeded Shuichi Nakao of Japan 15-1, 15-6. On Wednesday, the Indonesian defeated another Japanese, Shogo Inagaki, 15-8, 15-11.

Hendrawan will face Ahn Jae-chang of South Korea, who won his battle against host Japan best hope Keita Masuda 15-11, 12-15, 8- 6. Masuda retired in the third game but there was no information on the reason.

Marlev, the 1999 Grand Prix Finals runner-up, will face Ji Xinpeng of China in Friday's quarterfinals. Marlev, third seeded here, defeated South Korean Park Tae-sang 15-11, 15-9. Park had earlier surprised the crowd by crushing the 1998 Asian Games gold medalist Dong Jiong of China 15-9, 7-15, 15-12.

In the second round, Marlev had to play hard to overcome little-known Takaaki Hayashi of Japan 10-15, 15-4, 15-5. Earlier, the Indonesian had some trouble handling another Japanese, Hidetaka Yamada, before winning 15-9, 15-13.

Hariyanto Arbi, the 1999 Singapore Open winner, was unexpectedly upset by Wei Ng of Hong Kong 13-15, 15-3, 15-6. Ng had to bow out to eighth seeded Luo Yigang of China 5-15, 8-15.

Another surprise came from unseeded Roslin Hashim of Malaysia, who pulled off two upset wins Thursday to set up a quarterfinals meet against Danish world number one Peter Gade Christensen.

AFP reported Hashim, ranked sixth in his country and 33rd in the world, shocked world silver medalist and ninth seeded Fung Permadi of Taiwan 15-7, 11-15, 15-6 in the second round.

The Malaysian then crawled back from 0-5 down in the third round to score a 17-15, 15-4 victory over world champion Sun Jun of China, fifth seed, who has been recovering from a left knee injury.

Spotlight

In the men's doubles, Indonesian pairs remain under the spotlight after reaching the quarters. Top seeded Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan survived their test in the second round against Tadashi Otsuka and Keita Matsuda of Japan 12-15, 15-9, 15-9. They will meet the Malaysian on-and-off partnership of Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock, the 1996 Olympics silver medalists, who beat Khunakorn Sudhisodhi and Kitipon Kitikul of Thailand 15-8, 6-15, 15-3.

The 1996 Olympics gold medalists Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky reached the quarters after eliminating dark horses Zhang Wei and Zhang Jun of China 15-10, 3-15, 17-14. They will meet Malaysian second players Rosman Razak and Chew Choon Eng.

National women's doubles Elysa Nathanael and Deyana Lomban also reached the quarters after winning Thursday's match 15-12, 15-13 against Shizuka Yamamoto and Seiko Yamada of Japan. The Indonesians, seeded fifth here, will challenge third seeded Chen Lin and Jiang Xuelian of China, who had an easy win over Sandra Watt and Kirsteen McEwan of Scotland 15-2, 15-5.

Both Indonesian mixed doubles of Tri Kusheryanto and Minarti Timur and Bambang Suprianto and Zelin Resiana also reached the quarters.

Unfortunately, the country's women's singles second stringers of Yuli Marfuah and Niniek Masrikah suffered humiliating defeats in the first round against seeded players. Yuli lost 1-11, 0-11 to seventh seeded Yasuko Mizui of Japan while Niniek bowed out 6- 11, 0-11 to fifth seeded Zhou Mi of China. (yan)