Indonesia dominates Milo Open
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar
Pia Zebadiah upset second-seed Tai Yi of China as young Indonesian shuttlers dominated the quarterfinal matches at the Milo Junior Indonesia Open badminton championship here on Thursday.
Pia overcame the first game's loss and second game's jitters to finally defeat Tai 3-11, 11-8, 11-1 in the girls' section. It was a sweet revenge by the Indonesian who was earlier beaten 11- 2, 11-9 in the team event of Asian Junior Badminton Championship in Jakarta.
The two other Indoensian semifinalists are third-seeded Belaetrix Manuputty, who defeated her compatriot Riza Nur Azizah 11-4, 11-2, and fourth seed Aprilia, who thrashed Yuan Kartika 11-2, 11-2.
Top seed Wang Yihan is the only Chinese player left in the semifinal after she brushed aside Indonesian Feiran Mesawardhani 11-1, 11-9.
The hosts also dominated the boys' event with Adnan Fauzi, Kusuma Sakti, Andreas Adityawarman, coming through into the semifinals leaving Lu Qicheng of China the only foreigner in the final four.
Pia and Tai struggled against the wind, with both admitting to being confused by unpredictable gusts.
Pia was the most to suffer as she conceded a string of unforced errors to lose easily in the first game.
She looked unable to recover, finding herself 1-8 down in the second game before regrouping to hold off Tai's charge.
It was Tai who looked under pressure in the deciding game while Pia stamped her authority to seal a convincing third-game win and a ticket to the semifinals.
"I was confused by the direction of the gusts. It looked like the wind was coming from every direction. I just started focusing on the game and tried short serves when I was down 1-8 in the second game," Pia said.
She will take on Belaetrix while Aprilia will tackle Wang in the semifinals.
In the boys' quarterfinal matches, second seed Fauzi defeated Wisnu Haryo Putro of Indonesia 10-15, 15-3, 15-3.
He will meet Kusuma Sakti, a 15-8, 15-5 winner over Teo Kok Siang of Malaysia 15-8, 15-5. Andreas will try to stop Lu in the other semifinal match.
In the mixed doubles, Chinese pair top seed Li Tian/Ma Jin will meet unseeded Achmad Tantowi/Dining, while Indonesian pair Rio Willianto/N Kesya will face Bona Septano/Pia Zebadiah in the semifinals.
Matches in the girls' doubles and boys' doubles would finish late on Thursday night.