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Tournament jinx continues for Tontowi, Liliyana

Thai style: Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand returns the ball to Wang Shixian of China during their women’s singles semifinal match at the BCA Indonesia Open 2014 badminton tournament at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, on Saturday

Irawaty Wardany (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, June 22, 2014

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Tournament jinx continues for Tontowi, Liliyana Thai style: Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand returns the ball to Wang Shixian of China during their women’s singles semifinal match at the BCA Indonesia Open 2014 badminton tournament at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, on Saturday. Intanon won 19-21, 21-16, 21-13. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama) (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)

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span class="inline inline-none">Thai style: Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand returns the ball to Wang Shixian of China during their women'€™s singles semifinal match at the BCA Indonesia Open 2014 badminton tournament at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, on Saturday. Intanon won 19-21, 21-16, 21-13. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)

Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir'€™s tournament jinx continued when they failed to overcome their opponents in the semifinals of the BCA Indonesia Open 2014 badminton tournament at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, on Saturday.

Tontowi and Liliyana bowed out to China'€™s Xu Chen and Ma Jin 18-21, 21-12, 21-15 and had to abandon their dream to win the title for the first time in the US$750,000 tournament.

Their loss leaves the host with only one of five titles to fight for, thanks to Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan'€™s success in their men'€™s doubles semifinal match against Kim Ki-jung and Kim Sa-rang.

In the men'€™s singles, Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark put in a surprising performance with a 21-19, 21-18 win over world number two Chen Long of China. It was Jorgensen'€™s first win in seven meets.

'€œIt was a huge achievement for me to get my first win against Chen Long here in Indonesia. I can'€™t ask for more. I'€™m really happy right now,'€ Jorgensen said after the match.

He said that seeing how Long had been struggling in the past few tournaments, he knew he had a chance to win against him.

'€œI knew I had a good chance and this stadium ['€¦] I can play my attacking game,'€ said the 26-year-old player.

He said the key to his win was that he could take advantage of playing short on the net.

'€œI rushed to the net doing some trick shots and tried to hold on the net at crucial moments. I think I also did well in the first set and I took my chances at the right moment because when you play Chen Long, you can'€™t expect to get many easy points because he'€™s so stable,'€ he said.

Jorgensen will face Kenichi Tago of Japan, who defeated Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia 21-16, 15-21, 21-16.

Ratchanok Intanon became Thailand'€™s first women'€™s singles player to play in the finals after she stunned favorite Wang Shixian of China 19-21, 21-16, 21-13.

The Thai team could have caused further shocks but Nichaon Jindapon failed to make it an all-Thai final after she lost to Li Xuerui 21-19, 21-10 in another semifinal match.

'€œThat [game] was my first victory that brought me to the final. It was difficult to beat Wang and I should work hard to win the game,'€ Ratchanok said.

Ratchanok said she had found the way to beating Wang by containing her attacking target and minimizing her mistakes.

Meanwhile, despite winning many prestigious tournaments abroad, including the All England and World Championships, Tontowi/Liliyana once again had to swallow a bitter pill after failing yet again to win the Indonesia Open since making their debut in 2011.

'€œI don'€™t know why it'€™s so difficult to win the Indonesia Open with Owi [Tontowi]. I won the tournament when I played with Nova [Widianto] and Vita [Marissa]. Probably because Owi doesn'€™t want to win?'€ joked Liliyana.

'€œI do want to win. I won the All England three times so why is it so difficult to win at Istora?'€ Tontowi said.

He added that playing in front of a home crowd put more pressure on him because his family and Indonesian spectators were watching.

Liliyana said that the Chinese opponents managed to take control over the game'€™s rhythm so coolly they could not match them.

Danish mixed doubles pair Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen also made their way to the finals after outplaying South Korea'€™s Lee Yong-dae and Shin Seung-chan 21-18, 21-15.

They will play against China'€™s Xu and Ma on Sunday.

Hendra and Ahsan are now Indonesia'€™s only title contenders. However, the huge home crowd was kept in suspense when the Indonesian pair was beaten in the opening game 17-21 against their Korean opponents before recovering to take the remaining two games 21-13, 21-10. They will now face further Korean opposition in Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong. (gda)

Sunday'€™s finals

Men'€™s singles

Jan O Jorgensen (Den) vs Kenichi Tago (Jpn)

Women'€™s singles
Li Xuerui (Chn) vs Ratchanok Intanon (Tha)

Men'€™s doubles
Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan (Ina) vs Lee Yong-dae/Yoo Yeon-seong (Kor)

Women'€™s doubles
Ma Jin/Tang Yuanting (Chn) vs Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei (Chn)

Mixed doubles
Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen (Den) vs. Xu Chen/Ma jin (Chn)

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