Olympic bronze medalists ousted at U.S. Open
Olympic bronze medalists ousted at U.S. Open
ORANGE, California (Agencies): Olympic men's doubles bronze medalists and top seeds Denny Kantono and Antonius Irianto, crashed to the makeshift partnership of Chandra Wijaya and Sigit in Friday's all-Indonesian semifinal at the U.S. Open badminton championships.
Chandra and Sigit, who usually play with other partners and are unranked as a pair internationally, produced the biggest upset of the day with a come-from-behind 9-15, 15-10, 15-6 at the Orange County Badminton Club.
They will now play Malaysia's seasoned team of Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock, ranked third in the world. The 1996 Olympic silver medalists beat South Korea's Ha Tae-kwon and Kim Dong-moon also in rubber sets 15-6, 9-15, 15-12.
Chandra and Sigit took control in their third game by building a 7-0 lead. Denny and Antonius failed to score on their first four serves of that game.
Elsewhere, Indonesia's top seeded Mia Audina moved a step closer to her first career tournament title when she outgunned Canada's Denyse Julien 11-5, 11-0 in the women's singles semifinal.
Olympic silver medalist Mia, ranked fourth in the world, will meet Denmark's Camilla Martin in an Olympic quarterfinal replay. Second seeded Martin beat Indonesia's Meiluawati 11-4, 10-12, 11- 3.
Mia relied on an aggressive style and a devastating cross- court drop shot to dominate Julien. In the second game, Audina scored 10 consecutive points on her first service, with most of the points coming off cross-court drops and smashes.
Two of the world's top three male players will clash for the men's singles championship when Indonesia's top seeded Joko Suprianto, who heads the world rankings, plays Denmark's second seeded, third-ranked Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen.
Indonesian Open winner Joko beat former teammate who now plays for Taiwan, Fung Permadi, 15-6, 15-8 and Olympic champion Hoyer- Larsen defeated Olympic bronze medalist Malaysia's Rashid Sidek 15-13, 15-3.
Joko and Hoyer-Larsen last met in the Thomas Cup final in Hong Kong in May, with the Indonesian coming out the winner.