Taufik in rematch with Xia in Malaysia Open

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian best hope Taufik Hidayat set a rematch with Chinese Xia Xuanze in the US$150,000 Proton-Eon Malaysia Open final on Sunday at the Malawati stadium in Shah Alam.

Taufik earned his final berth after he overcame Indian dark horse Pulella Gopichand 15-12, 15-11 on Saturday. Xia reached the final in a tough match against home favorite Wong Choong Hann 17- 15, 15-10.

In their last meeting in the All England in May, Taufik easily bowed out to Xia in the final.

"I will fight hard against Xia tomorrow, but I don't expect too much as my personal target is only to reach the semifinals. It would really be a surprise as I haven't made a full preparation due to my back injury," Taufik told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview.

Speaking on his match, Taufik said Gopichand played well in contrast to him who was late to adjust with the situation.

"I think Gopichand has performed his best playing as today is our first meet. His playing is very outstanding and I think nobody can underestimate him anymore in the future," he said.

Gopichand, whose world ranking is 18, has been dubbed as the next Prakash Padukone. Padukone, who is also Gopichand's teacher, was Indian star in the 1980s.

Indonesia also has a chance to win the men's doubles title as Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian defeated compatriots Candra Wijaya and Antonius Budi Ariantho 15-9, 15-12.

The world number 10 Indonesians will challenge second seeds Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung of South Korea, who are in the world number three spot, on Sunday.

Lee and Yoo crushed the Malaysian best duo of Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah 15-12, 15-7.

Eng Hian said: "This is the biggest chance for Flandy and I to win a Grand Prix series title after our last one in the 1999 Korean Open. Our performance is good enough here that we are sure we can win the title."

"On the contrary, Lee and Yoo just reached their top level form today. In the early rounds, they had to play rubber sets against non-seeded players."

"This tournament's victory will add our self confidence and motivation in the upcoming Olympic Games," he said. Eng Hian and Flandy, last year's tournament runner up, was targeted to win the title to retain Indonesia's dominancy in men's doubles.

Indonesian mixed doubles Tri Kusharyanto and Minarti Timur also reached the final after beating Chinese second stringers Zhang Jun and Gao Ling 15-5, 15-7.

The world number two pair will face Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min of South Korea, who defeated Chinese Liu Yong and Ge Fei 15-12, 15-6.

China created an all Chinese final in both women's singles and doubles to ensure two titles at the last Grand Prix series event before the Olympic Games start on Sept. 15.

In the singles event, world number one Gong Zhichao had a comfortable win over former teammate Wang Chen, who is now playing for Hong Kong, 11-5, 11-2.

She will meet compatriot and world number four Dai Yun on Sunday. Dai easily tamed the 1998 Commonwealth Games gold medalist Kelly Morgan of Wales 11-3, 11-5.

In the doubles, top seeds and world number one Ge Fei and Gu Jun eliminated Ra Kyung-min and Chung Jae-hee of South Korea 15- 5, 15-12. They will face juniors Huang Nanyan and Yang Wei, who beat the Indonesia Open winners Joanne Goode and Donna Kellogg of England 15-2, 15-12. (yan)