Indonesia's hope of winning the men's singles at the 2022 Indonesia Masters can only rely on Anthony Sinisuka Ginting. He now becomes the sole survivor of the host to reach the quarter-finals, pursuing his third title at the Indonesia Masters after previously being the winner in 2018 and 2020.
For Ginting, to go further would require a struggle that won’t be easy. In the quarter-finals which will be held on Friday (9/6/2022), Ginting, who is now ranked sixth in the world, will face an opponent who is ranked exactly one level above him, Lee Zii Jia from Malaysia. The two will meet later today after defeating their opponents in the second round at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno, Jakarta. Anthony beat Thailand's Sittikhom Thamsin 21-13, 21-14. This was the third win in three matches against the world ranked 31st. Meanwhile, Lee Zii Jia defeated Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands 21-17, 21-14 whom Lee Zii Jia has never lost in four meetings. Ginting himself has a good meeting record with Lee Zii Jia, with only one loss in four meetings. The last time, the two met in the Thomas Cup quarter-finals and Ginting won 21-15, 21-17.
Winners of Anthony vs Lee Zii Jia will most likely face Danish first seed, Viktor Axelsen. The gold medalist of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is expected to have no difficulty defeating Angus Ng Ka Long from Hong Kong. Axelsen has always won in nine matches. In another quarter-final, the third seed Chou Tien-Chen from Taiwan will meet the seventh seed from India, Lakshya Sen. The two have only met once in the Thomas Cup 2022 and Tien-Chen won the rubber game 21-19, 13-21, 21-17. The other quarter-finals will see 2021 World Champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore against Lu Guang Zu of China. On paper, Loh Kean Yew is superior.
In the women's singles, Chen Yufei from China is pursuing her first title at the Indonesia Masters. She has successfully reached the quarter-finals and will meet Busanan Ongbamrungphan from Thailand. Chen Yufei, world number four and top seed at the 2022 Indonesia Masters, has met Busanan, ranked 11th, for ten times and lost only twice. The winner of Chen Yufei vs Busanan will meet the winner of Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark vs sixth seed of China He Bing Jiao. The previous two matches between Kjaersfeldt vs He have always been won by He Bing Jiao, who is ranked ninth in the world.
The most exciting quarter-final match will be between Ratchanok Intanon from Thailand against Pusarla V. Sindhu from India. Intanon, who is currently ranked eighth in the world, has won eight of her 12 meetings with Sindhu, who is now ranked seventh in the world. The winner of the match between Intanon vs Sindhu will meet the winner of the match between two unseeded badminton players, Han Yue from China vs Iris Wang from the United States.
For the men’s doubles, the hope of creating the dream final between the first seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo from Indonesia and their compatriots who are the second seeds Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan failed to happen. Setiawan/Ahsan aka the Daddies, who are now in third place, surprisingly lost in the second round to the Korean pair Kang Min-hyuk/Seo Seung-Jae, ranked 75th in the world, with 19-21, 21-18, 19-21. This is the second defeat of Hendra/Ahsan from the Korean pair.
Meanwhile, the steps of Gideon/Sukamuljo aka the Minions, have not been blocked. In the quarter-finals, they will meet Malaysian representatives Malaysia, Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin. The two pairs met in the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Masters 2020 and were won in two straight games 21-13, 23-21 by the Minions. If they win again, Gideon/Sukamuljo, who have also won the Indonesia Masters in 2019 and 2022, have the opportunity to meet the opponent who defeated them at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, namely Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik who are also from Malaysia. The only condition is that Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik, who are seeded in fourth place at the Indonesia Masters 2022, must be able to beat the Chinese doubles who advanced from the qualification round of Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang. In the other quarter-finals, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medalists from Chinese Taipei Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin will face Indonesia's third doubles Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto. In their previous four matches, Alfian/Ardianto won three times.
If other countries are struggling to get tickets for the semifinals, China has already confirmed theirs. Two pairs of China will meet in the quarter-finals, namely Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan meeting compatriots Liu Xuan Xuan/Xia Yu Ting. Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan, who are seeded in the first place, have met their opponent who is ranked 22 in the world twice and always won the match. If all goes well, Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan can make a comeback from the painful defeat in the Uber Cup Finals 2022. At that time, they were defeated by Lee So-hee/Shin Seung-chen from Korea. The second-seeded pair also still qualified for the quarter-finals. Lee So-hee/Shin Seung-chen will face by the new Indonesian couple Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia. Previously, Apriyani won the gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in pairs with Greysia Polii.
Meanwhile, in the mixed doubles, big surprise makers Thom Mark Gicquel/Delphine Deltrue made it through to the quarter-finals. In the first round, the world number 11 pair defeated world number one from Thailand Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai. In the quarter-finals, they will go against Hong Kong pair who are also the sixth seed Tang Chun-Man/Tse Ying Suet. The pair met once four years ago at the 2018 World Championships and won by Tang Chun-Man/Tse Ying Suet.
With the early fall of Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai, a strong candidate for the championship in the mixed doubles is in the hands of Zheng Si Wei/Huang Yaqiong from China who are also the silver medalists at the Tokyo 2022 Olympics. Their steps in the 2022 Indonesia Masters have also reached the quarter-finals and will face Korean pair Ko Sung Hyun/Eom Hye Won.
