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.