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Maria keeps Indonesia's hopes alive
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 06/20/2008 10:34 AM | Sports
Maria Kristin Yulianti kept Indonesia's hopes for women's singles title alive after sailing into the quarterfinals at the Djarum Indonesian Super Series badminton championship in Jakarta on Thursday.
Maria, the only home hopeful in contention in her division, beat Yao Jie of the Netherlands 21-14, 21-19 at the Bung Karno Sport Stadium to book a quarterfinal berth against Zhou Mi of Hong Kong.
Zhou Mi, who is seeded seventh, was extended to three games before stopping Hwang Hye-youn of South Korea 21-12, 22-24, 21-12.
"I was optimistic about my game but I had not expected to win in straight games," Maria said.
As for Zhou Mi, who beat the Indonesian ace in their recent meeting in the Swiss Open, Maria said: "She will be a tougher opponent. I will focus first on defense before attacking because she is good at attacking with powerful hand swings."
All the top seeds made it through with the tournament's top two seeds -- Chinese Zhu Lin and Zhang Ning -- taking easy wins over their opponents.
Zhu Lin beat Jang Soo-young of South Korea 21-11, 21-12 while Zhang Ning breezed past Judith Meulandiks of Netherlands 21-16, 21-10.
Third seed Pi Hongyan of France had to struggle through three games against Saina Nehwal of India before cruising to a 21-12, 18-21, 21-16 win, while defending champion Wang Chen, who is seeded 5th, registered a 21-11, 21-10 win over South Korean Lee Yun-hwa.
In the women's doubles, the world No. 7 team of Vita Marissa/Lilyana Natsir of Indonesia reached the quarterfinals after defeating Nicole Grether/Chairmaine Reid 21-16, 21-17.
Vita said she and her partner found it a bit difficult in the second game because of the breeze inside the stadium.
"Besides, some of our smashes were inaccurate. Many of them landed out of court," she told journalists in a post-match interview.
The Indonesian pair will take on Malaysia's Chin Hui Eei/Wong Tty Pei, who won over Russia's Valeri Sorokina/Nina Vislova 21-16, 18-21, 21-16.
"Our next opponents tend to play more defensively so we must maintain our focus on attacks during the match," said Vita, who is eyeing the mixed doubles title with her partner Flandy Limpele.
World No. 16 Greysia Polii/Jo Novita also progressed to the next round with a convincing 21-15, 21-10 win over fellow Indonesians Rani Mundiastuti/Endang Nursugianti.
The other Indonesian pair to go through was S. Irawati/Meiliana Jauhari, who unexpectedly saw off the sixth-ranked team in the world, Kumiko Ogura/Reiko Shiota 21-19, 14-21, 21-14.
In the mixed doubles, second seeds Zheng Bao/Gao Ling took an easy victory over Devin Lahardi Fitriawan/Lita Nurlita of Indonesia 21-13, 21-10.
UP AND DOWN: Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia drops to the ground to return a shot from Joachim Persson of Denmark at the Djarum Indonesia Super Series at the Bung Karno Sport Stadium in Jakarta on Thursday. Sony won 21-18, 16-21, 21-19. (JP/P.J. Leo)
Christian Hadinata, the head coach of Indonesian team, said he expected the hosts to win at least two titles -- in the mixed and the men's doubles.
"Lilyana/Nova Widiyanto and Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan are now the world's No. 1 teams, so they have to win the titles to live up to their billings," he said.
Markis/Hendra had to play three games in their 21-12, 17-21, 21-16 victory over Chan Chong Ming/Chew Choon Eng of Malaysia.
Indonesian hopes for the men's singles title are pinned on Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Simon Santosa.
"I hope either Sony or Simon can win the men's singles as we could not claim any title in previous tournaments," he said.
On Thursday, Sony recovered from a second game loss to gain a 21-18, 16-21, 21-19 win over Joachim Persson of Denmark while Simon defeated Dicky Palyma of Netherlands 22-20, 21-9. (ewd)
