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.