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Jonatan stuns Lin Dan, for a ticket to quarterfinals

Future stars: Line Kjaersfeldt (left) of Denmark high fives with teammate Kim Astrup during a mixed doubles match against Indonesians Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir at the BCA Indonesia Open Super Series Premier 2016 on Thursday in Jakarta

Dicky Christanto (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, June 3, 2016

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Jonatan stuns Lin Dan, for a ticket to quarterfinals

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span class="inline inline-center">Future stars: Line Kjaersfeldt (left) of Denmark high fives with teammate Kim Astrup during a mixed doubles match against Indonesians Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir at the BCA Indonesia Open Super Series Premier 2016 on Thursday in Jakarta. The Danes upset the Indonesians 21-19, 21-17.(JP/Seto Wardhana)

Keeping his promise, Indonesian young gun Jonatan Christie trashed world number three Lin Dan of China in a straight-set match at the second round of the 2016 BCA Indonesia Open Super Series Premier on Thursday.

Jonatan, who was showered with home-crowd support, earned his ticket to the quarterfinals with a solid 21-12, 21-12 victory.

“I knew Lin Dan dislikes a noisy crowd, and that it would likely disrupt him. I took advantage of that,” the 18-year-old told a press conference after the match at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Senayan, Jakarta.

Jonatan, who helped the national team win the 2016 Asia Championships in India in February and the 2015 Southeast Asian Games in Singapore, said he refused to respond to Lin’s long balls, beating back his opponent with short balls that turned into deadly attacks.

Thursday’s win helped Jonatan keeps his promise. In the opener on Wednesday, Jonatan vowed to beat Lin. It turned out the dream came true quite fast.

Defeating his idol on court hasn’t made Jonatan a snobbish young man.

The Jakarta-born shuttler said Lin will always be among his idols in the sport, and the Chinese shuttler’s skills and champion mentality are still far above his own.

“His skill is still superior. What defined [my victory was] that my strategy worked well,” said Jonatan.

Regardless of his skills, the 32-year-old Lin instead showed a less winning attitude as he decided to skip a scheduled after-match press conference, which caused him a US$250 fine. Lin also complained about the loud crowd.

In Wednesday’s opener, Lin, who defeated Malaysia’s Zulfadli Zulkifli, also complained about a leaky roof.

In the quarterfinals, Jonatan will meet world number five Jan O. Jorgensen, who defeated Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki Vincent.

Accompanying Jonatan in the quarterfinals is Ihsan Maulana Mustofa, who beat China’s Huang Yuxiang in the second round. Ihsan will face Briton Rajiv Ouseph.

In mixed doubles’ play, Alfian Eko Prasetya and Annisa Saufika secured a quarterfinals spot after trashing Jacco Arends and Selena Piek of the Netherlands, 21-17, 21-18. Alfian and Annisa will face world number one Chinese pair Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei, who together defeated Riky Widianto and Richi Puspita Dili in the second round.

Indonesian women’s doubles pair Tiara Rosalia Nuraidah and Rizki Amelia Pradipta provided a sweet surprise as they beat fourth seeds Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei in a rubber 17-21, 21-17, 21-18.

Indonesia has no representative in the women’s singles quarterfinals as Fitriani lost 21-11, 21-10 to world number eight Saina Nehwal of India.

In later matches on Thursday, the host country kept its hopes alive to add more quarterfinalists as veteran Sony Dwi Kuncoro faced Hu Yun of Hong Kong in the men’s singles, while Anggia Shitta Awanda and Ni Ketut Mahadewi Istirani face sixth-seeded Jung Kyung Eun and Shin Seung Chan of South Korea.

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