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.