Taufik streak continues, RI garners two titles

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Defending champion Taufik Hidayat once again showed his mastery over China's Chen Hong to give one of two titles to the host nation at the Djarum Indonesia Open badminton championship here on Sunday.

Taufik, who was seeded fourth, outclassed third seed Chen 15- 10, 15-11, in the final match before a capacity crowd of 4,000 at the Bung Karno Tennis Indoor stadium.

It was Taufik's third win in a row in the tournament finals, following his victories in Surabaya 2002 and Batam 2003. The victory also means that he has extended his winning streak over Hong to six.

Luluk Hadiyanto and Alven Yulianto won their men's doubles final over top seeds Fu Haifeng/Cai Yun 15-8, 15-11 to earn the hosts the other gold, but China still showed its dominance by grabbing the remaining three titles on offer.

It was Taufik's fifth title in the Indonesia Open, and the 23- year-old said that he would look forward to more in a bid to break Ardy B. Wiranata's run of six titles.

"I have been motivated by a desire to break Ardy's record in the Indonesia Open," said Taufik, who won in 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003. Ardy triumphed in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995 and 1997.

Taufik showed his control over Chen by leading in the fight for points almost from the start.

It was an entertaining match with a series of rallies, cunning flicks over the net and cutting drives before one ended the play with a devastating smash.

After he was caught at 4-4, Taufik built an 8-5 lead to send the spectators into a frenzy of anticipation of a victory.

But Chen managed to establish his rhythm and overtook Taufik as the latter conceded a string of unforced errors.

Taufik quickly regained his composure to tie at 10-10, this time Chen committing his own errors. As Chen was still struggling, Taufik did not squander the opportunity to collect four points in a row.

After allowing one service over, Taufik sealed the opening set 15-10 after Chen's backhand shot fell short.

Taufik pulled clear to a 4-0 lead in the early stages of the second game. The following course looked reminiscent of the opening game when he led 8-5 only to let Chen mount an attack to tie it at 11-11.

But it appeared over for Chen as Taufik did not give him any opportunity to establish his game.

Meanwhile, despite their status as top seeds in the men's doubles, Alven and Luluk entered the final as underdogs because of their inferior record against Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng.

But they beat the odds to score their second win in six meetings.

In early action, second seed Xie Xingfang of China beat unheralded Eriko Hirose 11-8, 11-0 of Japan to win her second Indonesia Open women's singles.

In the mixed doubles final, Zhang Jun/Gao Ling overcame fourth seeds Robert Blair/Natalie Munt of England 15-9, 15-9 while in the last final of the evening saw top seeds Yang We/Zhang Jiewen overcome their compatriots and third seeds Zhang Dan/Zhang Yawen 15-10, 15-10.