Nova, Vita through to Japan Open final

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Nova Widianto and Vita Marissa of Indonesia advanced to the mixed doubles final at the Japan Open after dispatching Jens Eriksen and Mette Schjoldager of Denmark 15-5, 15-12 in the semifinals on Saturday.

The Indonesians had beaten Lars Paaske and Pernille Harder (Denmark), Nikolaj Zuev and Marina Yakusheva (Russia) and third seeds Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms (England) en route to the final, where they will face Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thungthongkam of Thailand.

The Thais booked their finals ticket with a 9-15, 15-2, 15-2 win over Chen Qiqiu and Zhao Tingting of China.

Nova and Vita have improved markedly since the Korea Open last week where they were stopped by eventual champions Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min in the quarterfinals. The world champions have opted out of the Japan Open.

However, it was a setback performance by the Indonesian men. Having a chance of making it an all-Indonesian final, Luluk Hadiyanto and Alven Yulianto, and Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian bowed out after their semifinals matches.

Korea Open champions Luluk and Alven lost to second seeds Ha Tae-kwon and Kim Dong-moon 15-5, 13-15, 15-4 while Flandy and Eng Hian were beaten by third seeds Fu Haifeng and Cai Yun of China, 15-8, 15-11.

Another Chinese-Korean match involved the women's doubles with Wei Yili and Zhao Tingting, and Ra Kyung-min and Lee Kyung-won to face each other in Sunday's final.

Meanwhile, Bao Chunlai stopped reigning All-England champion Lin Dan's win streak at 31 by scoring a straight set victory in the men's singles competition, AFP reported.

Bao gained the momentum when Lin made an error-prone start and never allowed his Chinese teammate to come back into the match for a 15-13, 15-10 win.

Ronald Susilo of Singapore, the 15th seed, had to work hard to earn a final place against Bao, as he faced a tough challenge from unseeded South Korean Park Tae-sang before winning 13-15, 15-10, 15-11.

Meanwhile, Indonesia-born Mia Audina, now playing for her adopted country Netherlands, denied an all-China final by defeating Zhou Mi 11-4, 2-11, 11-4.

Mia will challenge top seed Gong Ruina, a 11-0, 11-6 winner over fellow Chinese Zhang Ning, in the finals.