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ndonesia’s men’s singles ace Taufik Hidayat and mixed doubles hopeful duo Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir cruised to the second round of the US$120,000 Bank Kaltim Indonesia Open Grand Prix Gold in Samarinda, East Kalimantan on Wednesday.

Top seeded in the mixed doubles, Tontowi and Liliyana received little challenge from their Asian Junior champions compatriots Lukhi Apri Nugroho and Ririn Amelia. Tontowi and Liliyana took only 17 minutes to put down their juniors 21-9, 21-14.

On Thursday’s second round, the world number two mixed pair will duel against fellow Indonesians Nova Widianto and Vita Marissa, who defeated another Indonesia junior pair Andhika Anhar and Keysa Nurvita Hanadia. Nova, the former world number one mixed doubles, also tried out his luck in the men’s doubles by pairing with Tri Kusumawardhana. The qualifier pair advanced to meet second-round rivals from Japan, fourth seeds Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Noriyasu Hirata.

In the men’s singles, Taufik extended his hope of ending a miserable run throughout the year by beating his first rival, Malaysian Yogendran Khrisnan. The second seed lost the first game 17-21, before getting back his confidence to seal 21-7, 21-13 in the second and third games.

The 2010 French Open Superseries champion will next face another Malaysian young blood Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin, who beat Indonesia’s junior Evert Sukamta.

The host country’s seventh seed Tommy Sugiarto and eighth seed Hayom Rumbaka are also advancing to Thursday’s round, along with the unseeded women’s singles Adrianti Firdasari who crushed fourth seed Eriko Hirose of Japan 9-21, 21-12, 21-14. Adrianti will meet Nichaon Jidapon of Thailand on Thursday.

Beijing Olympics men’s doubles gold medallist Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan, the tournament’s second seeds, also smoothly passed their opening round, beating Thailand’s Patipat Chalardchaleam and Nipitphon Puangpuapech 21-8, 21-14. The men’s doubles top seed duo Bona Septano and M. Ahsan, who were also the runners-up in the recent Japan Open Superseries, will have their opener against Malaysians Yogendran Khrishnan and Kay Bin Yeoh late on Thursday.

Meanwhile, some of Indonesia’s national shuttlers had an early collapse in the first round, including sixth seed Simon Santoso, Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the men’s singles, and Maria Febe Kusumastuti and Aprilia Yuswandari in the women’s singles.

— JP/ Agnes Winarti