Susi's chances improve as Mia loses to Dai Yun
Susi's chances improve as Mia loses to Dai Yun
BIRMINGHAM, England (Agencies): Susi Susanti's chances of winning back the women's singles title in her last All-England Championships before retirement improved considerably when her top-seeded Indonesian compatriot Mia Audina was beaten Wednesday.
The 17-year-old Olympic silver medalist lost in three games in the second round to China's Dai Yun as Susanti's bid for her fifth title carried her to the quarterfinals with two wins for the loss of only five points.
Mia's defeat came 11-6, 8-11, 5-11 against an unseeded opponent after the teenager, so often so good in a crisis, had fallen away from 5-5 in the third game. She looked sluggish by her exceptional standards and made too many mistakes.
"I am very disappointed because I had hoped to be the youngest All-England winner," said Mia. "She is in a particularly difficult part of the draw," said her coach Retno Kustiyah. "But she will try for the world championships."
Susi, who was seeded among 5th and 8th seeds, had an easy 11- 1, 11-2 victory over South Korea's Park Jin-hyun.
Four Chinese have reached the last eight of the men's singles in which nine of the 16 seeds have failed to reach their allotted places.
The most important to go out was the second-seeded Commonwealth champion from Malaysia, Rashid Sidek, who led 6-2 in the second game, but could not cope with the explosive airborne smashes of a rejuvenated world champion, Hariyanto Arbi, and was beaten 15-7, 15-8.
Earlier Hariyanto had tried to conserve himself against the 20-year-old Englishman Mark Constable and had found himself in danger of a sensational loss at a game down and 3-9 behind in the second before coming through 10-15, 15-10, 15-9.
World champion Hariyanto returned to something like his best form following injury which has seen him drop down the world rankings.
Seeded joint ninth, he swept into a 10-0 lead in the first game against second-seeded Rashid Sidek of Malaysia, the man who finished runner-up here last year to Olympic champion Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen.
Hariyanto, producing the kind of dazzling smashes that brought him two All-England titles earlier in his career, appeared in good trim and eventually won 15-7, 15-8 to claim his place in the quarterfinals starting Thursday.
Hariyanto's display was in contrast to his second-round match where he had a scare before finally quelling 20-year-old Mark Constable of England 10-15, 15-10, 15-9.
Former world champion Joko Suprianto, also from Indonesia, went out in the second round to Peter Rasmussen, the Dane winning comfortably 15-10, 15-3.
His departure followed that of two other top compatriots, Alan Budikusuma and Ardy Wiranata, the gold and silver medal winners at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
Joko, who won his world title in this same arena four years ago but also lost in the second round of the All-England last year, went out 15-10, 15-3 to the Japan Open champion Peter Rasmussen.
The young left-hander Dane promptly pronounced himself good enough to win the All-England, but then struggled to survive with a win by 17-14 in the final game against Sweden's Tomas Johansson.
Doubles
Defending champion Ricky Subagja/Rexy Mainaky of Indonesia also went through to the men's doubles quarterfinals after eliminating Thailand's Siripong Siripul/Khurakom Sutishodith 15- 3, 15-11.
The Olympic gold medalists will face Denmark's Jon Holst- Christensen/Michael Sogaard, who beat compatriots Jesper Madsen/Christian Nymand 15-1, 15-5.
First-seeded Sigit Budiarto/Chandra Wijaya of Indonesia defeated South Korea's Choi Ji-tae/Kim Jong-suk 15-10, 15-6 in only 27 minutes.
Indonesia's Tri Kusherjanto/Minarti Timur, first-seeded in the mixed doubles, also went through to the quarterfinals after beating host pair Simon Archer/Joanne Wright, 15-12, 15-5.
In the women's doubles, Indarti Isolina/Deyana Lomban of Indonesia won 15-4, 15-2 in 22 minutes from British duo Karen Peatfield/Justine Wilmott. Seniors Eliza/Zelin Resiana beat Gong Zhichao/Zhang Ning of China 15-9, 15-5.