Taufik ousts Lin Dan in Singapore Open
Taufik ousts Lin Dan in Singapore Open
Agencies, Singapore
Olympic gold medalist Taufik Hidayat and the veteran men's doubles pairing of Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto reached the finals of the US$170,000 Singapore Open on Saturday.
Taufik showed the form that brought him gold in Athens as he overpowered world number one Lin Dan of China in the semifinals.
The eighth seed won 15-12, 15-8 in 53 minutes to earn a place a matchup against China's Chen Hong, the reigning All-England champion who beat South Korea's Lee Hyun-Il 15-8, 15-11 in the other semi.
Fourth seeded Candra and Sigit beat top seeded Jens Eriksen and Martin Lundgaard Hansen of Denmark 15-10, 15-5. They will play sixth seeded Danes Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen on Sunday.
In the match of the day, Taufik was slow off the blocks as the Chinese top seed dictated the pace of the exchanges to run up a 9-2 lead.
But once the Indonesian found his rhythm, he clawed his way back to 9-12 and then reeled off six points in a row to take the game 15-12 in 29 minutes.
The second game found a confident Hidayat forging ahead 8-2 with some spectacular shots and he had little problems in wrapping up the semifinal 15-8 in another 24 minutes.
"When I was trailing in the first game, I remembered the trauma of losing the Sudirman Cup final," Taufik said in reference to last month's straight-games loss to Lin in the final of the world mixed team championships.
"That inspired me to take it one step at a time and once I got the service at 9-12, I felt pretty much in control."
Taufik has a 6-1 win-loss record against Chen, but the Indonesian said his tougher path to the final could be a factor.
"I am feeling quite confident about the final, but I must add that fatigue will definitely be a factor because his matches have been much shorter," the Bandung native said.
Both men have enjoyed success at the Singapore Open, Hidayat winning in 2001 and Chen taking the next two titles.
"Against Taufik it will be the same as we have played each other many times," Chen said. " However, I am confident in my current form."
In the women's semifinals, eighth-seeded Zhou Mi of China had few problems against qualifier Jiang Yan Jiao.
Zhou, who beat world number one Xie Xingfang in the previous round, spent only 26 minutes on court to register a 11-4, 11-1 win against her countrywoman.
Zhou meets yet another Chinese in the final, Zhang Ning, the defending champion and world number two who received a walkover on Saturday after Frenchwoman Pi Hongyan pulled out with a back injury.