Mia closer to dream match against Susi
Mia closer to dream match against Susi
BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuter): Mia Audina, Indonesia's
precocious badminton talent, found the going tougher than she
might have expected as she reached the All-England quarterfinals
yesterday -- and sails closer to a dream final against compatriot
Susi Susanti.
The 15-year-old Mia, who clinched her country's Uber Cup team
triumph last year, finally subdued a determined and tenacious
Japanese, Takako Ida, 10-12, 11-8, 11-4.
All-England records are vague on the subject but observers
could not recall a younger quarterfinalist in the event's long
history.
Reigning champion, and four-times winner Susi needed tight
three sets to survive a thriller against Chinese future star Yao
Yan. Susi was nearing a repeat of her Asian Games upset when she
lost the first set. But the Olympic and world champion displayed
her mature to win the hard-fought battle 8-11, 11-6, 11-7.
Mia would need to display better form and Ida was clear who
would win that encounter if it took place.
"Susi will win the title," Ida said.
The players had a steady wind blowing across their court
yesterday and in the opening game Mia coped with it better and
used it to her advantage. But she also made more errors as the
Japanese won it after trailing 9-7.
"I was trying to do it too quickly. I was not patient enough,"
Mia said. But she slowly exerted her grip in the second game
after trailing 3-2 and her superb wristy flicked overhead drops
and controlled slices provided too many problems for her
opponent.
"I want to be successful as quickly as possible but I know I
need more tournament experience," said Mia, who has reached two
Asian circuit semifinals since her Uber Cup success. "I think I'm
about fifth or sixth in the world right now," she added.
Ida played Mia in the Malaysian Open last year. "She won then
too but this was closer. We have both improved a lot since then,"
Ida said.
Surprise
In the men's singles, experienced Russian Andrei Antropov
pulled off a big surprise by beating South Korean Park Sung-woo,
the conqueror of world champion Joko Suprianto of Indonesia on
Wednesday.
Antropov, a former world championship quarterfinalist, trailed
14-7 in the second game and saved three match points before
battling to take the game and going on to win 12-15, 17-14, 15-6
against the despairing Korean, who won Swedish Open ahead of the
All-England.
Joko, third seed and beaten finalist in 1993, failed to
overcome the handicap of a back injury as he went down tamely to
the Korean without much fight 11-15, 4-15.
Antropov had a chance to become an unseeded semifinalist when
he faced Lo Ah Heng of Malaysia later.
Danish fifth seed Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen put out Hendrawan of
Indonesia 15-8, 15-9.
Indonesian men's doubles teams have yet to broke too much
sweat when they safely cruised to the third round earlier on
Wednesday.
Top seeds Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky needed only 25
minutes to dispatch Denmark's Ib Frederiksen and John Laursen 15-
2, 15-2. Holders Bambang Suprianto and Rudy Gunawan scored an
easy 15-3, 15-8 win over lowly Ricardo Fernandez and Fernando
Silva.
Doubles second stringers Aras Razak and Aman Santosa, Swedish
Open semifinalists, outclassed home favorites Anthony Bush and
Steffan Pandya 15-0, 15-9 in just 26 minutes. Third seeds Denny
Kantono and Antonius did not have to hit the shuttlecock as their
English opponents Allan Cottell and Nathan Robertson failed to
show up.
Third round results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Men's singles
Lo Ah Heng (Mal) bt Yong Hock Kin (Mal) 15-7, 15-7
Andrei Antropov (Rus) bt Park Sung-woo (Kor) 12-15, 17-14, 15-6
5-Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen (Den) bt 9-Hendrawan (Ina) 15-8, 15-9
5-Hermawan Susanto (Ina) bt 9-Hu Zhilan (Chn) 15-6, 15-4
Women's singles
5-Mia Audina (Ina) bt Takako Ida (Jap) 10-12, 11-8, 11-4
5-Ra Kyung-min (Kor) bt Elena Rybkina (Rus) 11-8, 11-7
1-Susi Susanti (Ina) bt Yao Yan (Chn) 8-11, 11-6, 11-7
Wang Chen (Chn) bt Lotte Thomsen (Den) 11-8, 11-4