Top seeds tumble in third round of Indonesia Open
By Primastuti Handayani
DENPASAR, Bali (JP): Top-seeded badminton players started to tumble in the third round of the US$150,000 Sanyo Indonesia Open at Yuwana Mandala Hall here on Thursday.
Men's singles second seed Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark had to unexpectedly bow out to Malaysian rookie Yap Yong Jyen 13- 15, 12-15.
Another upset was also conducted by Indonesian Hendrawan, ranked 17th in the world, who defeated world number seven and fourth-seeded in the tournament, Peter Rasmussen 15-6, 15-10.
In the women's singles, world number eight and second-seeded Cindana Hartono of Indonesia, was surprisingly defeated by world number 33 Mette Pedersen of Indonesia 11-4, 11-9.
Indonesia's men's doubles Ade Lukas and Santoso Sugiarjo, unseeded in the tournament, upset number 12 Par-Gunnar Jonsson and Peter Axelsson of Sweden 10-15, 15-12, 15-9.
Hoyer-Larsen, the 1996 Olympics gold medalist and world number four, could not hide his disappointment with his poor result.
"I wanted to finish the match immediately but I lost control. Statistically, I would have won over him in nine of the 10 matches. I believed I wouldn't lose to him, but I underestimated him."
"I'm quite disappointed in the way I was playing. Actually, it was a very good draw, so I can't complain to anybody."
Dane team manager Thomas Lund was disappointed with Hoyer- Larsen's poor performance.
"Hoyer-Larsen didn't play really well today. He seemed like he didn't have any confidence. Yap played well and used many chances. Under normal circumstances, Hoyer-Larsen would win."
Yap, the 1997 world junior champion, will meet world number nine Taufik Hidayat in the quarterfinals.
Taufik, the All England and Singapore Open finalist, managed to overcome towering Swede Thomas Johansson 15-6, 15-9.
Lund also commented on Rasmussen's performance against Hendrawan.
"He was on the bad side of the court in the first set. I think he played quite well and tried to use his chances. But Hendrawan survived some bad points. Hendrawan could control the game and the win. He also played really good nets, he's a very confident player."
It was the second time Rasmussen lost to the Indonesian players. In the early rounds, he also bowed out to Marlev Mainaky in the second round of the Singapore Open last week.
Hendrawan will meet compatriot Hariyanto Arbi in the quarterfinals. Hariyanto beat junior Ignatius Rudy 15-5, 15-7. Hendrawan aims to take revenge on Hariyanto, who defeated him in the Singapore Open.
Energy
World number two and top-seeded Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark survived in the third round by defeating Rony Agustinus of Indonesia 15-14, 15-1.
Gade Christensen will face world number 31 Marlev Mainaky, who had to pump up his energy to eliminate teammate Indra Wijaya 13- 15, 15-10, 17-16.
In another all-Indonesian quarterfinal, world number six Budi Santoso, who won over Roslin Hashim of Malaysia 15-8, 15-13, will meet Johan Hadikusuma, ranked 20th in the world, and who upset world number 13 Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark 15-9, 15-6.
Women's singles Cindana expressed her disappointment over her poor performance.
"I played under form and could not overcome Pedersen's pressure. She played really well and fast with her strong smashes," she said.
Pedersen will face Swede Margit Borg, who won over Yeni Diah of Indonesia 11-8, 11-9.
Top-seeded Camilla Martin gave a free lesson to Siska Yunita of Indonesia 11-0, 11-0 to face Lidya Djaelawidjaja, who won over Dwi Retnowati 11-7, 11-3.
Swedish men's doubles specialist Peter Axelsson failed to hide his disappointment with his loss to the new Indonesian pair.
"We started really well in the first set but in the second when we were leading 10-6, all of a sudden we didn't have any teamwork and played shakily. We should have been able to beat them. We won over them during our training in the Indonesian Badminton Center before the Singapore Open."
"They were really quick in drive net play and we should play that way," he said.