Young Jonatan eases into second round
WUHAN: Indonesian youngster Jonatan Christie had a dramatic start at the Badminton Asia Championships here when he won his opening match today. The 19-year-old, who hit the headlines when he reached the semifinals of the Malaysia Open earlier this month, endured an hour-long battle before beating Singapore's Derek Wong.
Jonatan claimed the first set 24-22 but dropped the next 16-21 to the men's singles SEA Games champion. He charged back and wrested the decider 21-18 to advance to the second round where he will meet Chinese Taipei's Tzu Wei Wang, a qualifier who shocked Malaysian Iskandar Zulkarnain today.
Last year's Badminton Asia Championships runners-up, Tian Houwei of China also had a great start when he beat South Korea's Son Wan Ho 21-14, 21-17 win in 50 minutes. Seventh seeded Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia meanwhile had it easy against unknown Kazakhstan qualifier, Artur Niyazov. He won 21-6, 21-7 in only 22 minutes.
Hong Kong's fast improving Angus Ng Ka Long was another easy winner over Jordan's Bahadeen Ahmad Aishannek 21-6, 21-16 in 20 minutes.
Malaysia had some cheer in the morning session when their professional pair, Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong, who have been named to the Thomas Cup squad, came-from-behind to beat Chinese Taipei's Liao Min-chun-Tseng Min-hao 14-21, 21-15, 21-13 in their first round match.
Top seeds and defending champions Lee Yong-dae-Yoo Yeon-seong of Korea with a strong performance in their opening match. The Koreans won 21-11, 21-15 against Taiwan's Lee Sheng-mu-Tsai Chia-hsin.
Fourth seeds Fu Haifeng-Zhang Nan of China were equally impressive when they knocked out Indonesia's Berry Angriawan-Ryan Agung Saputra 21-12, 21-13 while fifth seeds Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa were too strong for India's No 1 pair Manu Attri-B. Sumeeth Reddy with a 21-15, 21-13 win in 32 minutes.
Top seed Li Xuerui of China came back from a set down to advance to the second round with a 19-21, 21-6, 21-15 win over Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in 54 minutes.
India's hope Saina Nehwal, seeded fifth, who missed the Singapore Open and the China Masters because of injury needed only 21 minutes to tame Indonesia's Fitriani Fitriani 21-16, 21-17.
Japan's Akane Yamagchi's experience helped her to outwit Malaysia's junior world champion Goh Jin Wei 21-16, 23-21 while China's Sun Yu fell to a 17-21, 15-21 defeat to Korea's seventh seed Sung Ji-hyun.
FIRST ROUND RESULTS (Morning session)
Men's singles
Tommy Sugiarto (Ina) beat Artur Niyazov (Kaz) 21-6, 21-17
Tian Houwei (Chn) beat San Wan-ho (Kor) 21-14, 21-17
Angus Ng Ka Long (Hkg) beat Bahadeen Ahmad Aishannak (Jor) 21-6, 21-6
Wang Tzu Wei (Tpe) beat Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin (Mas) 21-18, 21-18
Jonatan Christie (Ina) beat Derek Wong (Sin) 24-22, 16-21, 21-18
Men's Doubles
Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (Mas) beat Liao Mun-chun-Tseng Min-hao (Tpe) 14-21, 21-15, 21-13
Lee Yong-dae-Yee Yeon-seong (Kor) beat Lee Sheng-mu- Tsai Chia-hsin (Tpe) 21-11, 21-15
Fu Haifeng-Zhang Nan (Chn) beat Berry Angriawan-Ryen Agung Saputra (Ina) 21-12, 21-13
Or Chin Chung-Tang Chun Man (Hkg) beat Pranaav Jerry Chopra-Akhshay Dewalkar (Ind) 21-19, 21-17
Angga Pratama-Rickey Karanda Suwardi (Ina) beat Amrullo Bakshullaev-Artyom Savatyugin (Uzb) 21-10, 21-7
Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa (Jpn) beat Manu Attri-B. Sumeeth Reddy (Ind) 21-15, 21-13
Women's singles
Sung Ji-hyun (Kor) beat Sun Yu (21-17, 21-15
Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) beat Goh Jin Wei (Mas) 21-16, 23-21
Li Xuerui (Chn) beat Porntip Buaranaprasertsuk (Tha) 19-21, 21-6, 21-15
Bae Yeon-ju (Kor) beat Thi Trang Vu (Vie) 21-10, 21-14
Yip Pui Yin (Hkg) beat Hsu Ya-ching (Tpe) 21-13, 21-17
Women's doubles
Della Destiara Haris-Rosyita Eka Putri Sari (Ina) beat Hsu Ya-ching-Pai Yu-po (Tpe) 21-6, 21-14
Jung Kyung-eun-Shin Seung-chan (Kor) beat Chaing Kai-hsin-Wu Fang-chien (Tpe) 21-11, 21-15
Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota (Jpn) beat Chaladchalam Chayanit-Phataimas Muenwong (Tha) 21-16, 21-16
