Taufik, Marlev advance in Taipei Open quarterfinals

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat and Marlev Mainaky cruised to the quarterfinals of badminton's five-star Chinese Taipei Open, while teammates Budi Santoso and Hariyanto Arbi bowed out in action on Thursday.

Fifth seeded Taufik defeated veteran Malaysian shuttler Ong Ewe Hock 15-7, 15-9, while Marlev sweated out his victory over South Korean qualifier Son Seung-mo 13-15, 15-6, 15-3.

Taufik, 18, will now face top-seed Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark, who eliminated Malaysian young gun Roslin Hashim in the third round. Second seeded Marlev will meet 1996 Olympic gold medalist Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark, who was pushed to the limit by Japan's Keita Matsuda.

Budi, seeded eighth here, fell to Anders Boesen of Denmark 1- 15, 12-15, while seventh seeded Hariyanto was upset by rising Malaysian star Ismail Saman 15-9, 9-15, 4-15.

"Budi did not perform his best and was so slow during the match, while Hariyanto lacked energy in the second and third sets. Obviously his physical condition was not very good," coach Imelda Wiguna said in a telephone interview.

In the men's doubles, Indonesia's Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian reached the quarterfinals with a 15-11, 17-15 victory over Germans Michael Helber and Bjoern Siegemund.

Indonesia's veteran duo of Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky, the 1996 Olympic gold medalists, also booked a spot in the quarterfinals, defeating Chris Hunt and Julian Robertson of England 15-7, 15-4.

The sixth seeded duo of Antonius and Denny Kantono bowed out to 1996 Olympic silver medalists Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock 10-15, 10-15.

Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan, who became the top seeded doubles team after Kim Dong-moon and Ha Tae-kwon withdrew from the tournament, and Sigit Budiarto and Halim Heryanto were still involved in matches late on Thursday night.

In the women's doubles, third seeded Elysa Nathanael and Deyana Lomban reached the quarterfinals after defeating Lim Pek Siah and Joanna Quay of Malaysia 15-9, 15-11. The Indonesians will now face Chen Li-Chin and Tsai Hu-Min of Chinese Taipei on Friday.

"Elysa and Deyana beat them in the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok. On paper they should win. Hopefully they won't make many unforced errors tomorrow," Imelda said.

Indonesia's Emma Ermawati and Vita Marissa topped Sujitra Eakmongkolpaisarn and Saralee Thonthongkam of Thailand 15-10, 15- 12. However, the unseeded duo of Minarti Timur and Zelin Resiana fell to Denmark's Helene Kirkegaard and Rikke Olsen 9-15, 15-6, 10-15.

Indonesia's mixed doubles teams of Tri Kusheryanto and Minarti, and Bambang Suprianto and Zelin also reached the quarterfinals of the tournament. (yan)