Susi edges to third round in Japan Open

Susi edges to third round in Japan Open

TOKYO (AFP): World number one Susi Susanti stretched her match
winning streak to 15 when she outgunned Japan's Chikako Nakayama in
the second round at the US$125,000 Japan Open badminton
championships yesterday.

The first Olympic champion from Indonesia, appearing in top
form since her surprising defeat to Japanese national champion
Hisako Mizui at the Asian Games in October last year, raced to an
11-3, 11-1 thrashing.

"It was my first match here, so I tried to get used to the
surroundings. The lights caught my eyes a little bit, but I was
never in trouble as the situation is the same for all the players,"
said the 23-year-old from Tasikmalaya, West Java.

Nakayama could never cope with the stylish Indonesian. She
managed to take only one point with her clean winner while
receiving another three points by a mistake on the Indonesian side.

In the third round tomorrow, Susi will take on Kim Ji-hyun of
South Korea, who edged past China's Dai Yun 10-12, 12-10, 11-8.

Fifth-seeded Camilla Martin of Denmark, seeking her loss to
Susi in the quarterfinals last week in Seoul, stayed on course for
a probable re-match against the top seed with a comfortable 11-0,
11-0 whitewash over Japan's Aiko Tsuda.

But before meeting Susi in the quarterfinals, the Danish Open
champion will have to beat Mizui's younger sister Yasuko, the
winner over Huang Chia-chi of Taiwan 11-5, 12-10.

Olympic silver medalist Bang Soo-hyun of South Korea, 1993
champion here Ye Zhaoying of China and Mizui -- three players to
have beaten Susi in the field -- also coasted to straight-game
victories.

Second-seeded Bang, runner-up to Susanti at the Korea Open on
Sunday, brushed aside Japan's Michiko Sasaki 11-2, 11-1, while
third-seeded Ye eliminated Saori Ito 11-8, 11-4.

Mizui was an 11-8, 11-3 winner over Taiwan's Shy Yuh-ling and
now will challenge Indonesia's young Uber Cup heroine Mia Audina,
fifth seed tomorrow.

Mia, who brought the Uber Cup for the first time since 1975
winning the critical fifth match after a 2-2 tie against China,
trounced another Japanese, Kyoko Komuro, 11-1, 11-1.

Ika Henny confirmed Indonesia's grip, sweeping aside Sweden's
ace Christine Magnusson 11-3, 12-9. Yuliani Santosa became the only
Indonesian casualty yesterday when she lost to China's Hu Ning 2-
11, 10-12.

All the other seeds -- joint third seed Lim Xiaoqing of
Sweden, fifth seeds Ra Kyung-min of South Korea and Han Jingna of
China -- safely went through beating Japanese opponents.

Lim shot down Yumi Akashi 11-7, 11-2, Ra outplayed Yoshiko Ota
11-4, 11-8, and Han smashed aside Mariko Nakayama 11-6, 11-3.

Also yesterday, Indonesia's doubles teams coasted their way to
easy opening-round wins.

Korean Open champions and top seeds Ricky Subagja and Rexy
Mainaky breezed past Japan's Shinji Ota and Takuya Takehana 15-4,
15-8. World number two Bambang Suprianto and Rudy Gunawan, seeded
second here, gave no mercy in trouncing Anthony Ave and Rocky
Magnave of the Philippines 15-3, 15-1. Taipei Masters winners Denny
Kantono and Antonius beat Japan's Shinji Bito and Hideo Okabe 15-3,
15-5.