Recovering Taufik to meet Wong in Singapore final

Recovering Taufik to meet Wong in Singapore final

JAKARTA (JP): Taufik Hidayat who is still recovering from his injuries made an outstanding performance by advancing to the final of the US$120,000 Sunrise-Yonex Singapore Open to meet Malaysian Wong Choong Han in Sunday's final.

Also cruising to the final were Indonesia's men's doubles pairs of world champions Tony Gunawan and Halim Haryanto, and Indonesian Open winners Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto, thus securing the title for Indonesia once again.

Seeded third in the event, Taufik cleared his way by crushing unseeded Malaysian Muhammad Hafiz bin Hasim 8-7, 7-2, 7-3 in Saturday's semifinals match.

"Hafiz is good but inexperienced. His defense is still not very good. I came into this tournament without a target and I am really happy to have reached the final," said Taufik as quoted by AFP.

The world's number five, Taufik, was injured in the World Badminton Championships semifinals match against eventual world champion compatriot Hendrawan in June in Seville, Spain. The Singapore Open is his first performance after his recovery.

Meanwhile in the other semifinals match, Wong easily crashed Indonesia's hope for another title by sending Johan Hadikusuma out with an easy 7-1, 7-2, 7-1 victory in a match that lasted only 24 minutes.

The ninth seeded Wong was too quick and accurate for Johan and also because the later never let up the pressure.

"I felt Johan was nervous and I took full advantage of his mistakes," Wong said. "I played at a faster pace so I could keep control of the game right from the start."

He was more circumspect about Sunday's final.

"Taufik is playing pretty well even if he says he is only 80 percent fit. Based on his past performance, he will definitely be the favorite."

Indonesia's hope of retaining its domination in the men's doubles first emerged when Tony and Halim defeated Pramote Teerawiwatana and Tesana Panvisvas of Thailand 8-6, 7-5, 7-0.

In the lower leg, Candra and Sigit cleared the way for an all- Indonesian final after defeating Malaysians Chew Choon Eng and Chan Chong Ming 8-7, 7-2, 7-3.

Chinese women's shuttlers again showed their domination in both the singles and doubles events by staging two all-Chinese final matches to bring the titles home.

Zhang Ning defeated Ng Mee Fen of Malaysia 7-0, 8-7, 7-3 to set her match with compatriot Dai Yun who upset second seed Gong Zhichao, also from China, 7-3, 7-0, 7-5 to contest the women's singles title.

In the mixed doubles, top seeds Wei Yili and Zhang Jiewen cleared the Indonesian pair of second-stringers Eny Erlangga and Novita 7-3, 8-6, 7-3.

Another Chinese pair of Zhang Yawen and Zhao Tingting were forced to work hard to upset second seeds Helene Kirkegard and Rikke Olsen of Denmark 5-7, 8-6, 7-2 2-7, 8-7.

Denmark has also secured a title of its own after its mixed doubles pairs defeated their Chinese opponents in the semifinals matches.

Top seeds Jens Erikssen and Mette Schjoldager will meet compatriots Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen, seeded second in the event.

The 2000 World Grand Prix Finals champions Erikssen and Schjoldager were tested to the limits before defeating Chen Qiqiu and Chen Lin 7-8, 7-0, 7-4, 8-6, 7-1. Meanwhile, Sogaard and Olsen beat Liu Yong and Zhang Jiewen 7-0, 7-0, 8-6, 7-5. (nvn) `