Top seeds bow out to Malaysians in Indonesia Open

JAKARTA (JP): Malaysia produced the biggest upset in the US$150,000 Sanyo Indonesia Open at the Senayan Tennis Indoor Stadium on Thursday, eliminating three top seeded players in the men's singles.

Roslin Hashim opened the scalping with a come-from-behind 9- 15, 15-3, 15-7 win over top seed and the current world number one Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark for a place in Friday's quarterfinals.

The TV court, which saw Gade Christensen bow out, has proven a graveyard for seeded players as second seed and world number three Hendrawan of Indonesia crashed to a 9-15, 9-15 straight sets defeat to another Malaysian, world ranked 14 Ong Ewe Hock.

Malaysia scored another prestigious victory in its confrontation with Indonesia, when young player, Yap Yong Jyen, toppled world number eight Marlev Mainaky 17-16, 15-8.

In the premier match, world number 28 Roslin, had taken a commanding 8-2 lead in the first game before losing his concentration and patience and allowing the 23-year-old Dane to win 10 points in a row. The Malaysian could only earn one more point before Gade Christensen raced to close the set.

In the second set, Roslin controlled the match with his neat netting and solid defense to block the Dane's hard-hitting smashes. The Malaysian quickly rose to 11-2 before Gade Christensen forced several service changes that earned him just one more point.

Gade Christensen, who lost to Roslin in the Japan Open in January, was totally letdown and failed to put aside the psychological pressures. He unleashed three wide smashes that showed him the door.

"Of course I am disappointed with the result but I was very tired after playing two hard matches yesterday. The first game was OK as I managed to keep the game at a high speed but in the second and third games I failed to keep the speed," Gade Christensen told a post-match conference.

"I think Roslin played without pressure. If he loses, it's OK but if he wins, it's a sensation. But I should have won the match."

Gade Christensen also complained about changes in the schedule which originally arranged his third round match at 4 p.m. instead of 2 p.m.

"I was a bit confused as I was told this morning that I had to play at 2. But it's too much to play two matches in one day."

On the other hand, Roslin said he had studied his Danish opponent's performance.

"I was well prepared to meet him and I believe I can beat him again as I did in the Japan Open quarterfinals."

Coach Jalani Sidek said: "Peter is known as a complete player but still he has weakness and I told Roslin to work on his net and be more patient. And he did."

Instead of seeking an excuse for his defeat, Hendrawan admitted his below-par performance.

"I'm not going to say that I lost here because I just returned from Thailand and I felt exhausted. Today I failed to explore my concentration, technical strokes, motivation, physical fitness and mentality for the match."

"But due to the loss, I realize that I must work hard; especially on my fitness to reach my peak at the Olympics," said the 28-year-old Indonesian, who is aiming for the gold medal in Sydney Games in September.

Thursday's match was marred by an invasion of disappointed supporters of Persija Jakarta soccer club that lost its semifinal against PSM Makassar. The soccer match was held at nearby Senayan Stadium.

Police were forced to fire tear gas to disperse the soccer fans, who were getting rowdy in the parking lot of the Senayan tennis complex where the badminton tournament is being held. (yan)

Other third-round results (x-denotes seedings)

Men's singles:

Park Tae-sang (Kor) bt Daniel Eriksson (Swe) 15-11, 15-10 x3-Taufik Hidayat (Ina) bt Keita Masuda (Jpn) 15-10, 15-10 Agus Hariyanto (Hkg) bt Arief Rasidi (Ina) 15-9, 15-2 Johan Hadikusuma (Ina) bt Shinya Ohtsuka (Jpn) 14-17, 15-5, 15-5 Lee Hyun-il (Kor) bt Ronald Susilo (Sgp) 15-7, 15-4

Women's singles:

x1-Camilla Martin (Den) bt Wan Ting Ling (Hkg) 11-5, 11-3 x5-Kanako Yonekura (Jpn) bt Yuli Marfuah (Ina) 11-3, 7-11, 11-7 x4-Mia Audina (Ned) bt Zeng Yaqiong (Chn) 11-1, 11-4 Lidya Djaelawidjaja (Ina) bt x6-Takako Ida (Jpn) 11-6, 11-8 Kelly Morgan (Wal) bt Mei Mei Chan (Hkg) 11-0, 11-3 Judith Meulendijks (Ned) bt x3-Mette Sorensen (Den) 9-11, 13-10, 11-2 x8-Marina Andrievskaya (Swe) bt Julia Mann (Gbr) 11-6, 11-6 Wang Chen (Hkg) bt x2-Yasuko Mizui (Jpn) 11-5, 11-1

Men's doubles:

x5-Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah (Mal) bt Antonius/Denny Kantono 15-4, 11-15, 15-9 x1-Candra Wijaya/Tony Gunawan (Ina) bt Danang Gathut/David Pohan (Ina) 15-3, 15-1 Sigit Budiarto/Halim Heryanto (Ina) bt Denny Setiawan/Donny Prasetyo 15-3, 15-13 x3-Simon Archer/Nathan Robertson (Gbr) bt Luluk Hadiyanto/Imam Sodikin (Ina)15-13, 15-7 x4-Ricky Subagja/Rexy Mainaky (Ina) bt Andreas Setiawan/Hadi Saputra (Ina) 15-9, 15-11

Women's doubles:

Emma Ermawati/Carmelita (Ina) bt x1-Helene Kirkegaard/Rikke Olsen (Den) 9-15, 17-16, 15-13 Nicole van hooren/Lotte Jonathans (Ned) bt Majken Vange/Pernille Harder (Den) 15-4, 15-5 x3-Etty Tantri/Cynthia Tuwankotta (Ina) bt Wang Chen/Ling Wan Ting (Hkg) 15-8, 15-12 Minarti Timur/Zelin Resiana (Ina) bt Haruko Matsuda/Yoshiko Iwata (Jpn) 12-15, 15-5, 15-8

Mixed doubles:

x1-Michael Sogaard/Rikke Olsen (Den) bt Wahyu Agung/Emma Ermawati (Ina) 15-7, 15-5 x2-Jens Eriksen/Mette Schjoldager (Den) bt Imam Tohari/Carmelita (Ina) 15-13, 15-2 x3-Tri Kusheryanto/Minarti Timur (Ina) bt Danang Ghatut/Andriani (Ina) 15-3, 15-3 x4-Chris Bruil/Erica van den Heuvel (Ned) bt Santoso Sugiharjo/Enny Widiowati (Ina) 15-3, 15-2 x5-Simon Archer/Joanne Goode (Gbr) bt Nova Widianto/Upi Chrisna wati (Ina) 15-4, 15-2 x6-Bambang Suprianto/Zelin Resiana (Ina) bt Tam Kai Chuen/Wai Chee Koon (Hkg) 15-8, 15-3