Indonesia Open Superseries Premier: Back-to-back triumphs for Lee/Yoo

2014-06-22

2014 Indonesia Open Superseries Premier | June 17-22 | Jakarta, Indonesia

Final day notes & results
Lee Yong Dae, Yoo Yeon Seong
Lee (left) and Yoo go two-two in Tokyo and Jakarta. (Photo credit: Badmintonphoto)
 

Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon Seong seal their fifth Superseries win as a pair coming out on top after a rematch in the finals against Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan. China’s Zhao Yunlei is in with her London Olympic gold-winning partners Tian Qing and Zhang Nan, but ends with mixed fortunes. Here’s the final results:

  Event WINNER Scores RUNNER-UP
  MS Jan O Jorgensen [3] DEN 21-18, 21-18 JPN Kenichi Tago [4]  
  WS Li Xuerui [1]  21-13, 21-13 THA Ratchanok Intanon [4]  
  MD Lee Yong Dae [5] 
Yoo Yeon Seong 
21-15, 21-17  Mohammad Ahsan [1]
 Hendra Setiawan
 
  WD Tian Qing [8] CHN
Zhao Yunlei 
CHN
Walkover CHN Ma Jin
CHN Tang Yuanting
 
  XD Joachim Fischer Nielsen [4] DEN
Christinna Pedersen 
DEN
18-21, 21-16, 21-14 CHN Xu Chen [3]
CHN Ma Jin
 
 
Lee Yong Dae, Jung Jae Sung
Lee (right) becomes the first player at Indonesia Open to win in the men's doubles with different partners since it gained its Superseries status. He was the 2012 winner with Jung Jae Sung.
 

"Victory Number": 401
The margin in the rankings between local prodigy Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, who’s in his first ever Superseries Premier main draw, and defending champions Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei. However, the 18-year-old, currently having his highest mixed doubles ranking at world no.402, teamed up with veteran Greysia Polii and made the shocker of the tournament when they fended off a match point to upset the world no.1s in the first round. Zhang/Zhao has never lost before the semifinals in a tournament this season prior to this week.

Player of the week
In the men’s singles, an escape from match point down against India’s Kashyap Parupalli in the first match saw Japanese fourth seed Kenichi Tago’s confidence boosted as he cleared up a packed road in which stood Hu Yun and Chong Wei Feng and then stunned world champ Lee Chong Wei in the semis before finally running out of gas and falling to Jan O Jorgensen in the finals.

Battle of the week
Kim Ha Na and Jung Kyung Eun of Korea upended the in-form BWF Destination Dubai Rankings leader, Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi, who just lifted home title last week at the Japan Open, in an impressive turn-around fashion 17-21 21-19 21-11 in a 71-minute marathon in the second round. Japan Open runners-up, sixth seed Reika Kakiiwa/Miyuki Maeda’s campaign came to an end on the same day also in the hands of another Korean pairing, Lee So Hee and Shin Seung Chan.
 
Kim Ha Na, Jung Kyung Eun
Kim (left) and Jung upset last week's winning pair Matsutomo/Takahashi.
 

VICTOR STAR of the week 
Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, who had to go through three qualifying matches with partner Greysia Polii, came up clutch against world no.1 and Olympic champions Zhang/Zhao to claim the first-round upset, 15-21 21-18 23-21. The 18-year-old Indonesia native was a silver medalist in the mixed doubles at last year’s World Junior Championships and captured back to back victories this year on the pro tour, winning in men’s doubles in Auckland and Hanoi (both International Challenge level).
 
Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, Greysia Polii
Sukamuljo is a new breed of Indonesian badminton.
 

( Edit by VICTOR Badminton )