Indonesia had four chances to take home a title on finals day in Macau, but only the mixed doubles final guaranteed an Indonesian winner. The top seeds Gunawan and Marissa were surprisingly defeated by the 6th seeded Ahmad and Natsir in two games, winning 21-14, 21-18.
The women’s singles final was between two unseeded players, Li Xuerui of China and Adriyanti Firdasari of Indonesia. Both players has disposed of a top 5 seed to reach the final, but it was the Chinese player who had came through against the 2nd and 4th seed that took the title in two games, winning 21-18, 21-15 in just 33 minutes.
Cheng and Chien made it two titles in two weeks, following up their win in the US with a three game victory over Jauhari and Polii, winning 16-21, 21-18, 21-16. Indonesia’s fourth final of the day seen 3rd seeded Chandra and Gunawan loss out to the unseeded Korean duo of Ko and Yoo in two games 21-17, 21-15. Meaning Indonesia took just one title from a possible four.
The men’s singles final between Lee Chong Wei and Lee Hyun Il, who was playing his first tournament since his comeback from a two-year retirement failed to take place after the Korean pulled out with an unspecified injury that he sustained during practice earlier that day.
This week turned into an opportunity for Zhou Mi to win her first ranking event of 2010 but was defeated by unseeded Li Xuerui to continue her winless streak this year. The women’s singles final will be contested by another unseeded player, Indonesia’s Adriyanti Firdasari is through to tomorrow’s final after a two game victory in her semi final.
Lee Chong Wei dropped his first game of the week, but fought back to win his semi final encounter against Simon Santoso, the 4th seed from Indonesia. He will play the unseeded Lee Hyun Il in the final, a player who only made it into the main draw after Peter Gade’s withdrawal earlier in the week. The Korean defeated the 5th seeded Boonsak Ponsana in two games to book his place in tomorrow’s final against the World #1.
There was yet another shock, this time in the men’s doubles as Ko and Yoo defeated the 2nd seeds, Kido and Setiawan to book their place in tomorrows final against the 3rd seeds, Chandra and Gunawan. They defeated the other unseeded Korean pair of Cho and Kwon in their semi final to book their place in tomorrow’s final.
The top seeds in the women’s doubles are out also, Maeda and Suetsuna were defeated by last weeks winners in the US, Cheng and Chien of Chinese Taipei. The 3rd seeds will play the 5th seeds Jauhari and Polii of Indonesia who ended the hopes of the 6th seeds, Zhang and Zhang of Macau. The mixed doubles is an all-Indonesian final, with top seeds Gunawan and Marissa taking on Ahmad and Natsir. The 6th seeds ended the impressive run of another Indonesian pair, Teng and Bernadet.
It was a bad day to be the 3rd seed in both singles events as both fell at the quarter final stage today. Eriko Hirose lost in the women’s singles to unseeded Adriyanti Firdasari of Indonesia in two games whilst Sony Kuncoro lost out to the 5th seeded Boonsak Ponsana in three tight games, losing 25-23 in the final game in 77 minutes.
Lee Chong Wei had no such problems in his two game win over Wan Ho Shon of Korea, his fourth straight victory without the loss of a game this week. In the semi final, he will play 4th seed Simon Santoso after his stunning 21-6, 21-5 victory over Wing Ki Wong of Hong Kong. The other semi final sees Boonsak Ponsana take on the Korean qualifier Lee Hyun Il who defeated the 13th seed Hsieh Yu Hsing of Chinese Taipei.
The women’s singles draw has just one seed remaining in Zhou Mi, the 4th seed defeated on-form Ai Goto in two games to book her place in the semi final against unseeded Li Xuerui of China, who defeated Macau’s Wang Rong in three games to book her place in the last 4. The other semi final sees Adriyanti Firdasari take on Chinese Taipei’s unseeded Shao Chieh Cheng, who profited in the women’s doubles from Lee Hyo Jung’s retirement in the opening round.
Shao Chieh Cheng’s run in the women’s doubles ended today with a tight two game loss to 6th seeded Zhang and Zhang of Macau. The Macau pair take on Jauhrai and Polii of Indonesia in the semi finals after the 5th seeds defeated 2nd seeed Chin and Wong of Malaysia. The two highest seeded pairs remaining in the draw play each other in the other semi final, as top seeds Maeda and Suetsuna of Japan play Cheng and Chien of Chinese Taipei, the 3rd seeds and last weeks winners in the US Open.
The top 2 seeds from the men’s doubles are still in the competition and are joined in the last 4 by two unseeded Korean pairs. 2nd seeded Kido and Setiawan, who have failed to drop a game this week take on Ko and Yoo of Korean who defeated Endo and Hayakawa 22-20 in the third of their quarter final match. The other Korean pair, Cho and Kwon take on the 3rd seed Chandra and Gunawan in the last 4 for a place in Sunday’s final.
The mixed doubles is between 3 Indonesian pairs and a Thai partnership. Top seed Gunawan and Marissa take on the 8th seeds Prapakamol and Thoungthongkam of Thailand, who have yet to drop a game on route to the last 4. The other semi final is an all-Indonesian match between 6th seeded Ahmad and Natsir against the on-form unseeded pair of Teng and Bernadet who have defeated two seeds on route to the last 4 without the loss of a game to date.
The last 16 was going to see some all-seeded counters, so the expectation was that some seeds would fall, but there was still some unlikely casualties on day 3.
Lee Chong Wei however was not one of them as he safely booked his place in the last 8 with a routine two game victory in 30 minutes. He plays the 15th seeded Wan Ho Shon of Korea in the last 8 after a tight three game victory over Hu Yun, the 8th seed from Hong Kong. There were victories for the 3rd seeded Sony Kuncoro and 4th seed Simon Santoso also, as well as the 5th seeded Boonsak Ponsana who sets up a quarter final match against Sony Kuncoro tomorrow. The qualifier Lee Hyun Il is also through to the last 8 after an impressive two game victory over 11th seeded Yan Kit Chan.
The highest seed in the women’s singles , Jie Yao crashed out to China’s Li Xuerui in two close games and sets up a quarter final match against Macau’s Wang Rong who defeated the talented Japanese player Sayaka Sato to book her place in the last 8. There was little problems with Eriko Hirose after surprisingly dropping the opening game against Chinese qualifer Suo Di, but fought back to take the next two games in impressive fashion. The quarter final to watch tomorrow is between Ai Goto of Japan, who fought through a tight three game encouter with Deng Xuan of China. She will play the 4th seeded Zhou Mi who is having her best run in a tournament for a number of months, she also battled through her second round match in three games.
Only two seeds remain in the men’s doubles, 3rd seeded Chandra and Gunawan defeated their Korean opponents Kim and Shin in three games to book their place in the quarter finals whilst the 2nd seeded Kido and Setiawan had little troubles in their two game victory over Chan and Lim of Malaysia. The two seeded partnerships cannot meet until the final. Whilst in the women’s doubles draw, 6 of the 8 remaining partnerships are seeded, with Ng and Ng over Malaysia defeating the 7th seeded Thai pairing of Amitrapai and Munkit in three games. Cheng and Cheng of Chinese Taipei are the other unseeded pair in the draw, defeating Chan and Chau in two games, who defeated the 4th seeds in their opening round match.
The mixed doubles is dominated by South East Asia, only two Korean partnerships break up the monopoly in the last 8. Top seeds Marissa and Gunawan faught back from a game down to progress to the last 8 and set up an all-Indonesian match against Rijal and Susanto. The first of the Korean couples through is the 4th seeded Ko and Ha who came through a tight three game match to book their place in tomorrow’s quarter final. The other Korean pair in the draw is qualifiers Kwon and Jang who have taken the place of their higher profile Korean players Lee and Lee slot in their quarter of the draw, they will take on the 6th seeded Ahmad and Natsir of Indonesia.
Lee Yong Dae returned to action this week, but his tournament lasted a mere day as he crashed out of the men’s doubles to Endo and Hayakawa of Japan and had to withdraw from the mixed doubles after Lee Hyo Jung injured herself. She had retired earlier in the day from the women’s doubles, trailing 5-0 but lasted just 3 points in her opening mixed doubles match. With just 3 weeks before the World Championships, the chances of Lee Hyo Jung making Paris are a real doubt.
There were shocks in the women’s singles too, as 6th seeded Bae Seung Hee lost to local player Wang Rong and 8th seeded Salakjit Ponsana lost to Ai Goto in her opening round game. There were problems with the top 2 seeds also, as Jie Yao and Eriko Hirose had to battle through in three games to progress into the second round. 7th seed Bae Joun Joo is also out, leaving just three seeds left in the draw.
The men’s singles was into the second round, after a late finish on Tuesday with same games going on past midnight local time. Top seed Lee Chong Wei is through safely into the last 16, with a two game victory. 2nd seed Peter Gade withdrew pre-event and Lee Hyun Il has made the most of the opportunity, progressing to the last 16 in place of Gade, he plays Yan Kit Chan in the last 16. 3rd seed Sony Kuncoro is also through in two games as well is fellow Indonesian Simon Santoso.
The men’s doubles is without it’s top seed, with Boe and Mogensen withdrawing pre-event and there was shocks for the other seeded players in day 1, as 4th seeded Lee and Jung crashed out as well as 7th seeds Hashimoto and Harata. The 8th seeded Ling and Lang of Chinese Taipei also fell in Round 1. There was little problems for Kido and Setiawan, the 2nd seeds coming through their opening test in two games.
The women’s doubles has an almost full compliment of seeds going into round two, only the 4th seeded Fujii and Kakiiwa of Japan lost in round 1. The other Japanese seeds, Maeda and Suetsuna lived up to their top seed billing to win their opening game comfortably. Of the seven seeds that progressed, six of them managed to win in just two games.
The big news in the mixed doubles was Lee Hyo Jung’s retirement in the opening round, every other seed came through their opening round match without the loss of a game. The 5th seeded Danish pair of Pedersen and Fischer Nielsen pulled out pre-event.