Mia Audina stops Ye's defense at Japan Open

Mia Audina stops Ye's defense at Japan Open

TOKYO (AFP): Women's singles favorite Mia Audina of Indonesia ended Chinese world champion Ye Zhaoying's hopes of defending her Japan Open title in the semi-finals of the US$170,000 tournament yesterday.

As the finalists sorted themselves out, unseeded Peter Rasmussen of Denmark ended the comeback run by three-time Japan Open champion Ardi Wiranata of Indonesia to set up a showdown with Park Sung-Woo of South Korea in the men's singles.

Audina, the 17-year-old world number one, used her full weaponry of shots to move Ye around the court on her way to a 12- 9, 11-6 victory.

In the final today, Audina will meet another Chinese, second- seeded Gong Zhichao, who beat European champion Camilla Martin of Denmark 12-11, 6-11, 11-2 in the semi-finals.

"I played much better today. I was just hitting hard before, but today, I tried to get a chance by moving her (Ye) back and forth, right and left. I think I found how I play my game today," said Audina.

The Indonesian jumped to an early 4-0, but Ye's tenacious play came back to level at 4-4, 7-7, 8-8 and 9-9 for a three-point setting.

But Audina used a combination of high clears and soft-touched net shots to win the following three points and the first game.

Ye, the champion here in 1993 and 1996, once took a 5-2 lead in the second game, but she could add only one more point for the remaining game as Audina never made an easy mistake consecutively.

"I couldn't find her (Ye's) vulnerable point in the first game. I couldn't play my game because she is tall. In the second, she tried to frustrate me using high serves," said Audina.

"But I kept myself calm and tried to hit quick shuttles that makes her difficult to reflect, because she has a long arm. That was the different from my previous matches against her," added the Indonesian, scoring her second win over Ye against five defeats.

In the men's semi-finals Rasmussen beat Wiranata 15-2, 15-5 win, while Park came from a game down to beat Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark 13-18, 15-10, 15-5.

But Denmark's hopes of dominating the finals berths collapsed with early round giant-killer Peter Gade Christensen and Camilla Martin losing their semi-final matches.

Rasmussen, 22, coming back after a lengthy layoff because of a knee ligament injury, said he knew Wiranata had won "quite big matches" had not expected to make the finals.

"This is my first tournament in seven months. I've played as well as I can and I had nothing to lose. I tried the best I could and it was enough for today," he said.

Rasmussen never trailed in the match which was all over in 34 minutes.

Wiranata, recovering from a liver illness, said he had trouble finding his rhythm.

"I couldn't play as well as usual. It was really tough because Peter put everything back into the court," he said.