Hermawan beats Ardy, Mia makes it to semifinals
Hermawan beats Ardy, Mia makes it to semifinals
BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuter): Second seed Ardy Wiranata, badly troubled by cramp at the end of the match, was thrashed 15-12, 15-7 by fellow-Indonesian Hermawan Susanto in the All-England badminton quarterfinals on Thursday.
The 1991 champion and beaten finalist last year played with his leg bandaged from knee to ankle for the closing points but his lack of mobility against an aggressive opponent was too much of a handicap.
In the women's singles, 15-year-old Indonesian fifth seed Mia Audina went perilously close to defeat in a cliff-hanger against unseeded Chinese Wang Chen.
Mia lost the first game from 9-2 up, saved two match points in the second game before leveling and needed six match points herself in the third before pulling through 10-12, 12-11, 12-10 in a 72-minute thriller.
Top seed and defending champion Susi Susanti stayed on course for a fifth title in six years and a third straight by brushing off the challenge of South Korean Ra Kyung-min 11-3, 11-0 in just 21 minutes.
Susanti and the Mia are now just one match away from what would be fascinating clash in the final.
In the men's event, fifth-seeded Dane Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen reached the semifinals for the only the second time in around 10 attempts with a 9-15, 15-7, 15-12 triumph over Ahn Jae-chang of South Korea.
The 29-year-old Dane will meet Taipei Masters winner Hermawan in one semifinal later on Friday night (today West Indonesian Time).
Lo Ah Heng of Malaysia, who has fought his way through from the qualifying competition, became the first unseeded semifinalist since China's Liu Jun won unseeded in 1992. Lo recorded an 18-17, 15-10 victory over Russian Andrei Antropov.
Lo, ranked 128th in the world and only fifth in Malaysia, is tipped to meet defending champion Hariyanto Arbi for a final place. The Malaysian is the first qualifier to reach the semifinals in at least 15 years. Records before 1980 were not available.
Tough game
Ardy played a tough three-game third round match earlier on Thursday, beating Henrik Sorensen of Denmark 10-15, 15-2, 18-13.
It took a heavy toll when it came to tangle with his compatriot, winner of the Taiwan Open in January.
Hermawan was quicker, smashed better and retrieved superbly as he left Ardy a well-beaten -- and tired -- man.
Hermawan is ranked fifth in the world in rankings where Indonesians hold the first seven positions.
Susi, got her tactics sorted out against Ra after dropping the first game earlier against China's Yao Yan before winning 8-11, 11-6, 11-7.
Mia survived two tough battles, beating Takako Ida of Japan earlier 10-12, 11-8, 11-4.
"I try to win too quickly and I must learn to be more patient," she said. "The second game against Wang was good for me. I had to start playing a lot of rallies instead of trying to win points quickly," she said.
Mia was unworried when she faced two match points in the second game and not concerned about her failure to finish it in the third.
"I thought it did not matter if I lost so I was able to play as normal," she said.
Hoyer Larsen, eighth in the rankings, has been having his best season, with successive victories in the German, Dutch and Danish Opens late last year and a semifinal place in the Thai Open.
"I'm in good shape, never better, and this has been my best season ever," he said.