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