Taufik advances but Gophicand makes exit
JAKARTA (JP): Men's singles seeded players at the US$140,000 Singapore Open produced a mixed bag of results in the opening round on Wednesday, with Indian All-England champion Pullela Gopichand being the major casualty.
Indonesia's top player Taufik Hidayat safely passed his first hurdle. Seeded third in the event, a composed Taufik outclassed another Indian, Abhinshyam Gupta, 7-1, 7-1, 7-2. Taufik will now face Malaysian Ramesh Nathen, who defeated Per-Henrik Croona of Sweden 7-1, 7-3, 2-1, 7-1.
Taufik was returning to competition after the 2001 Sudirman Cup mixed team tournament and its ensuing World Championships in Seville, Spain, in June. He was nursing a nagging injury he had sustained during a semifinal match against compatriot and eventual world champion Hendrawan.
Chinese junior player Lin Dan showed Gopichand the door after a see-saw match which ended 5-7, 7-1, 8-6, 2-7, 3-7 in Lin's favor. Lin will take on team mate Bao Chunlai, a 6-8, 7-1, 7-1, 7-4 winner over Ardiansyah of Indonesia.
Another Indonesian shuttler, Rony Agustinus, joined the first round winners after making short work of Belgian Frederic Mawet 7-2, 7-1, 7-1 and will meet Muhammad Hafiz Hasim of Malaysia, who defeated Indonesia's Markis Kido 7-3, 7-1, 7-0.
Indonesia is fielding a pack of junior players, but not all of them managed to clear their first hurdles. Among them was Sony Dwi Kuncoro, who was beaten 7-4, 7-3, 7-5 by Malaysian Ismail Saman, who will now challenge top seed Chen Hong of China.
Indonesian Open winner Marlev Mainaky defeated Rasmus Wangberg of Sweden 7-0, 7-5, 7-3 to set up a date with Japan's Hosemari Fujimoto who beat Malaysian Yogendran Krishnan 5-7, 7-2, 7-4, 3- 7, 7-0.
Second string Johan Hadikusuma defeated Eric Pang Huat Tjai of the Netherlands 7-2, 7-0, 7-3 to face Sannave Thomas of India.
Juniors Alven Yulianto and Hendra A. Gunawan defeated Belgian Frederic Mawet and Wouter Claes 7-1, 7-3, 7-1 to meet Malaysian Chew Choon Eng and Chan Chong Ming in the men's doubles.
In the women's singles, fourth seed Lidya Djaelawijaya of Indonesia booked a second-round ticket after beating Nathalie Descamps of Belgium 7-2, 7-0, 7-2. Lidya's next opponent is Tang Chunjue of China, who beat Malaysian Au Jen Yee 7-4, 7-3, 7-1.
Meanwhile, Yuli Marfuah defeated K. Sugita of Malaysia 7-3, 7- 5, 7-3 to challenge Dong Fang of China, a substitution for Gong Ruina. Dong edged out home favorite Xiao Luxi 7-1, 7-1, 7-3.
Chindana Hartono defeated host Fan Jing Jing 7-1, 7-0, 8-6 to face Japanese Kaori Mori who beat Malaysian Sutheaswari Mudukasan 7-0, 4-7, 7-3, 7-1.
Second-stringer Atu Rosalina will challenge third seed Camilla Martin of Denmark in the second round after defeating Woon Sze Mei of Malaysia 7-0, 3-7, 7-3, 7-2. Martin outclassed home player Li Li 7-0 7-1, 7-0.
Another Indonesian junior player, Silvi Antarini, will be involved in a David-Goliath duel as she plays joint 5/8 seed Zhang Ning of China in the second round. Silvi struggled to post a 7-5, 7-5, 7-0 win over Japan's Mika Anjo.
In contrast, Silvi's teammate Dewi Tira lost to joint 5/8 seed Ng Mee Fen of Malaysia 4-7, 2-7, 2-7. Nining Masrikah added to the list of Indonesian casualties, beaten 0-7, 3-7, 0-7 by Chinese seeded player Dai Yun. (nvn)