Taufik breezes through to semifinals at Indonesia Open
Taufik breezes through to semifinals at Indonesia Open
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Batam
Ever confident Taufik Hidayat put in another convincing performance in his 15-3, 15-6 drubbing of Lee Tsuen Seng of Malaysia in the quarterfinal round of the Indonesia Open badminton championships at the Temenggung Abdul Jamal indoor hall here on Friday.
Candra Wijaya/Halim Haryanto were also through to the semifinals to give Indonesia its only hope in the men's doubles after the exit of Luluk Hadiyanto/Alven Yulianto, who lost 15-8, 8-15, 15-9 to Sang Yang/Zheng Bo of China.
Candra/Halim took advantage of home support inside the 4,000- capacity hall to put pressure throughout on South Koreans Yim Bang-eun/Kim Yong-hyun in their 15-4, 15-8 victory.
Earlier, Taufik ensured Indonesia's run for the singles' title was still on course with his dominating run over the Malaysian, with whom he had drawn at 2-2 in a head-to-head meeting before Friday's encounter.
The defending champion, who is seeking his first win this year, combined neat short strokes over the net with well-measured drives to the back court to provoke his opponent into lame returns for the Indonesian to end with menacing smashes.
The second set saw Taufik continue to stand out with a barrage of smashes with Lee being left with no shielding covers. Lee was apparently unable to improve his game, falling to a flurry of inaccurate shots. He once shook his head in disbelief over his rueful showing.
"Taufik was consistent with his play. I was entrapped by his netting display at the front field. He was really well-prepared for the game," Lee said after the match.
Taufik appeared to have gained confidence after his third- round win of Bao Chun Lai and should be fired further with his quarterfinal win in his title defense campaign.
"With four matches having been played between us, I brought the knowledge into the game today. I tried hard not to give him the chance to regroup in the defense," Taufik, who is seeded sixth at the tournament, said.
Taufik is now looking to stop qualifier Wu Yunyong in the semifinals on Saturday to set up a possible repeat of last year's final against Chen Hong. Wu booked his semifinal berth after battling out a 15-10, 4-15, 15-13 encounter with Shon Mo-seung of South Korea.
Top seed Chen, who posted a 15-12, 15-12 win over Ronald Susilo of Singapore on the day, has Lee Hyun-il as the next opponent to beat. Lee, who dashed Sony Dwi Kuncoro's hopes in the third round, was through to the semifinals with a 15-6, 17-14 win over Wei NG of Hong Kong.
Candra/Halim will face Pramote Teerawiwatana/Tetana Panvisvas of Thailand for a place in the finals against either Sang Yang/Zheng Bo or Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah of Malaysia.
In the women's singles, Wang Chen of Hong Kong is the only non-Chinese in the top four. After beating Pi Hong Yan of France, she will challenge Zhou Mi, who broke no sweat in taking her semifinal place after the withdraw of compatriot Zhang Ning due to injury. Defending champion Gong Ruina will take on Xie Xinfang in the other semifinal match.
It will be Korea-China rivalries in the women's doubles semifinals with Ra Kyung-min/Lee Kyung-won being paired against Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen and Hwang Yu-mi/Lee Hyo-jung against defending champions Gao Ling/Huang Sui.
Meanwhile, Nathan Robertson/Gail Emms appeared to be the only non-Asian players in Saturday's matches. England's mixed pair came from behind to stop Chen Qiqiu/Zhao Tingting of China and are now up against world champions from Korea Kim Dong-moon/Ra Kyung-min.
The other semifinal match will see Kim Yong-hyun/Lee Hyo-jung of Korea against Chinese Zhang Jun/Gao Ling.