Reigning champion Lee upsets Taufik in Malaysian Open
Reigning champion Lee upsets Taufik in Malaysian Open
Agence France-Presse Kuala Lumpur
Defending champion Lee Chong Wei was the toast of the home crowd when he upset Olympic gold medalist Taufik Hidayat in the quarterfinals of the Malaysian Open badminton tournament on Friday.
For handing the Indonesian ace a 15-5, 15-0 drubbing, Lee became the only Malaysian player to reach the last four in the men's singles semifinals on Saturday after another local favorite Hafiz Hashim was overwhelmed by world number three Peter Gade in a pulsating encounter.
There was better news for Indonesia in the men's doubles, where top seeded Luluk Hadiyanto/Alven Yulianto beat Chan Chong Ming/Koo Kien Keat of Malaysia 17-16, 15-7, and veterans Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto defeated Yoo Yeon-seong/Jeon Jun-bum of Korea 15-4, 15-11.
Luluk and Alven were to play fourth seeded Fu Haifeng and Cai Yun of China, with Candra and Sigit playing the unseeded Chinese pair Sang Yang and Xie Zhongbo.
Lee believed his attacking game rattled Taufik, who was earlier tipped by many to advance based on his victory in the Singapore Open last week.
"My strategy of adopting a fast attacking game paid dividends. However I suspect Hidayat was in pain. Maybe he had some problems with his right leg," said Lee.
Taufik, who suffered a knee injury earlier this year that kept him out of the All England, preferred to give Lee the credit.
"Lee was the better player tonight," he said.
Gade, who had beaten three Malaysians prior to Friday's last eight, was made to work by Hafiz in what was clearly the highlight of the night before finally carving his maiden victory over the Malaysian in three encounters. Gade won 15-10, 12-15, 15-5.
In the semifinals, Gade will take on China's world number one Lin Dan who was given a walkover by his injured compatriot Chen Hong. Fifth seeded seed Chunlai completes the line-up after beating Chen Jin 15-8, 15-7.
Sixth seed Hafiz was upset with the defeat but conceded Gade was simply the better shuttler.
"My target was to take the first game and wrap it up in the second. Just as I feared, I could not seize the initiative in the third game," said the 22-year old former All-England winner.
Gade was delighted after claiming his fourth Malaysian victim after wins over Lee Tsuen Seng, Roslin Hashim and Wong Choong Hann in the earlier rounds.
"Hafiz posed some problems but I succeeded in luring him into my game. The trick was to deny Hafiz the time and opportunity to attack and smash," said the Dane.