Lee and Yoo Remain Unbeaten against Top Seeds Ahsan/Setiawan
Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon Seong of Korea, the pair that had won their debut tournament in Denmark Open last month, cruised through to the second round in the men’s doubles in the VICTOR China Open, after a 21-18 21-11 victory over top seeds Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.
Yoo Yeon Seong／Lee Yong Dae
Ahsan and Setiawan came with impeccable form in the mid-season, claiming four titles with a 19-match winning streak in the Superseries before it came to an end at Odense when they were defeated in the final in straights by the first-time pairing Lee and Yoo.
Although seeded on top this week, the Indonesian pair has to face yet one the toughest draws in the opening round as they’re set for a rematch with the Koreans. However, their revenge proved in vain. After a close win in the first, Lee and Yoo shut out their opponents early in the second and remained a perfect 2-0 head to head without losing a game.
Lee and his known teammate Ko Sung Hyun are still topping the BWF world rankings but they decided to try out different partnerships. Ko’s quest for their first Superseries title with Shin Baek Choel stared with a 28-minute 21-11 21-12 win over Japanese Hiroyuki Saeki and Ryota Taohata.
Former world number one Cheng Wen Hisng also needed less than half an hour with Hsieh Pei Chen to eliminate Nicole Grether／Charmaine Reid of Canada, becoming the first team to secure a quarterfinal spot after Korea’s sixth seeds Jung Kyung Eun／Kim Ha Na withdrew from the women’s doubles competition.
Tontowi Ahmad／Liliyana Natsir
Other big names stayed strong despite some resolute challenge from the inspired Chinese players at the Shanghai Yuan Shen Gymnasium. World champions Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir needed three games to hold off Liu Cheng／Bao Yixin after squandering one match point in the second, 21-11 20-22 21-7. Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand was caught in another tough battle from a game down to fight past Chen Xiao Jia, 16-21 21-14 21-8.
( Edit by VICTOR Badminton )
2013-11-13 |
2013-11-15 |
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