Indonesia Open 2022 feels monotonous for the host country as Indonesia does not have any representatives that are moving forward to the semifinals. All Indonesian players have lost in the quarter-finals which was held at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno, Jakarta, on Friday (17/6/2022).
In the men's singles category, Anthony Ginting lost the rubber game 13-21, 21-19, 9-21 to first seed Viktor Axelsen from Denmark. The second match took about 1 hour and 7 minutes. For Anthony, this was his eighth defeat in 12 matches. On the other hand, for Axelsen, this victory cleared the way to defend his title. In the semifinals, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medalist will be challenged by the sixth seed from Malaysia, Lee Zii Jia, who in the quarter-finals defeated the 2021 world champion from Singapore, Loh Kean Yew, in a rubber game 21-18, 16-21, 22-20.
During the six matches, Axelsen won four times over Lee Zii Jia. However, one of Axelsen's defeats was in the prestigious event of the 2021 All England final. Another semifinal pitted Zhao Jun Peng from China with Prannoy H.S. from India. In the quarter-finals, Zhao Jun Peng, who is currently ranked 35th, won 21-14, 17-21, 21-11 over Hong Kong representative Lee Cheuk Yiu as well as being his third victory in three matches. While Prannoy, ranked 23, reached the semifinals winning two games 21-14, 21-12 over Rasmus Gemke of Denmark who is ranked 13th in the world. Jun Peng and Prannoy have never met previously.
In the men's doubles, Indonesia actually passed two pairs in the quarter-finals. Unfortunately, Muhammad Rian Ardianto/Fajar Alfian and Pramudya Kusumawardhana/Yeremia Rambitan lost to their opponents. Muhammad Rian Ardianto/Fajar Alfian, who were seeded in sixth place, lost two straight games 18-21, 18-21 to the Chinese pair Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi. This defeat made them fail to repeat the results of the meeting at the 2022 Asian Badminton Championships. At that time, April 28, 2022, Fajar / Rian won three tight games 21-19, 18-21, 21-19.
At the Indonesia Open 2022, Muhammad Rian Ardianto/Fajar Alfian were expected to become champions after two of their teammates, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, the first seeds, and Hendra Setiawan/Mohamad Ahsan, the second seeds, had fallen in the previous round. Moreover, last week, Fajar/Rian were able to become champions at the Indonesia Masters. Unfortunately, Pramudya Kusumawardhana/Yeremia Rambitan lost three games 21-14, 12-21, 20-22 to the Malaysian double which was seeded in fifth place Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik. The Indonesian pair was only one point away from victory when Rambitan got injured. Despite the injury, Kusumawardana/Rambitan were committed to finishing the match even though they ended up losing. For Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik, bronze medalists at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, this saw them avenge their defeat in the 2022 Asian Championship final.
In the semifinals, Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik will face Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi for the first time. Liu Yu Chen is not a stranger opponent to Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik. They have met Liu Yu Chen when he was paired with Li Jun Hui but in their 6 meetings, Chia/Soh had always won. In the other men's doubles semifinal, they will meet Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, the eighth seed from Denmark, with Kang Min-hyuk/Seo Seung-jae. Previously, Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen defeated Japan's third seed Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi with three games 21-17, 16-21, 21-14. This victory made both pairs beat each other 5-5 throughout their careers. Meanwhile, Kang Min-hyuk/Seo Seung-jae beat fellow countrymen Choi Sol-gyu/Kim Won-ho 21-16, 13-21, 21-18.
Similar thing happened in the women's doubles. The new Indonesian couple Apriyani Rahayu / Siti Fadia could not continue. Their move was stopped by the second seed Lee So-hee/Shin Seung-chan from South Korea in straight games 14-21, 19-21. This defeat made Apriyani/Siti repeat the results of the 2022 Indonesia Masters. Last week, both of them were able to qualify for the final round. For Lee So-hee/Shin Seung-chan, in the semifinals, they will meet the Japanese doubles who are also the fourth seed Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota, who in the quarter-finals defeated another South Korean representative, Jeong Na-eun/Kim Hye-jeong, 21 -18, 21-9. Looking at their head-to-head records, Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota are more favored as they have only lost once in seven matches.
In the women's doubles quarter-final match, there was also a surprise when first seed Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan from China lost to Thailand's Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai, the seventh seed, in two straight games 19-21, 15-21. This result made Jongkophan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai win over the Chinese pair for the first time after losing 13 times previously. In the semifinals, Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai will face Japanese doubles Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida, the sixth seed who in the quarter-finals won Du Yue/Li Wen Mei of China 21-14, 22-20. Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai and Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida have only met twice and defeated each other in 2019.
For mixed doubles, since the quarter-finals, there have been no Indonesian representatives following the injury of Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti that forced them to withdraw. In this event, China has already confirmed one ticket to the final after Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong, the second seed, faced off against fellow Chinese players Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping. In the quarterfinal, Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong were forced into three games 21-18, 14-21, 21-17 by the unseeded Danish pair Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra Boje. Meanwhile, Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping, the fourth seed, won two straight games 21-12, 21-14 from Malaysian representatives Chen Tang Jie/Valeree Siow. Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong and Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping have met 18 times with Zheng/Huang winning 14 times.
One other party will meet the third seed Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino of Japan with Seo Seung-jae/Chae Yoo-jung. The two pairs met six times and both won three times. The last meeting between the two occurred three years ago in the quarter-finals of the Hong Kong Open and Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino won 21-18, 21-19. (*)
