MALAYSIA OPEN 2008 – New names are striking

It was the second day of the Super Series Proton Malaysia Open and the Bukit Jalil Putra Stadium was filled with a huge number of spectators, mostly supporters of the Malaysian and Indonesian teams. Supporters of both countries waved their national flags jubilantly in the air while cheering with their well-known slogans. New names are coming on strong such as Germany’s Hopp and Overzier or Denmark’s Andersen and Mollhyus.
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The day started with the second round of the mixed doubles. Fifth-seeded Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms swept Russia’s Durkin and Sorokina off the court 21-19, 21-18 in 32 minutes. The next mixed doubles match to finish, a mere 3 minutes later, has to be considered one of the upsets of the day. Germany’s Kristof Hopp and Birgit Overzier (pictured) triumphed over China’s Zhao Tingting and Xu Chen 23-21, 21-15. As for the other German pair, Kindervater and Piotrowski, they didn’t have the luck against Indonesia’s second-seeded Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir. Korea’s unseeded pair of Lee’s, youngster Lee Yong-Dae and veteran Lee Hyo-Jung, successfully defeated Denmark’s seventh-seeded Laybourn and Rytter Juhl in a game of rubber set 21-15, 20-22 and 21-19 in 55 minutes. The Swiss Open champions had a chance to end the match in two games at 20-all in the second but they unfortunately presented 2 straight points to the Danes.

Denmark’s Tine Rasmussen managed to win her match against Japanese Yonekura Kanako with two games of 21-19 each. Fourth-seeded Lu Lan of China made her way into the quarter-finals easily by beating Juliane Schenk of Germany 21-15, 21-8 in only 30 minutes. Hong Kong’s unseeded Zhou Mi made the onlookers grind their teeth as she took defending champion Zhu Lin down in the first game 21-11. Many thought that after the withdrawal of the first seed Xie Xingfang and the loss of second seeded Zhang Ning, the third seeded Zhu Lin would be the next to fall off the track. However, Zhu Lin started to put in more effort and although Zhou Mi was, in her way, performing well, Zhu managed to turn the match around and ended it 11-21, 21-17, 21-16. As for sixth-seeded Wang Chen of Hong Kong, she was also slammed by the Bulgarian Petya Nedelcheva in the first game 17-21 but made up for it by taking the next two games 21-11, 21-10.

The men’s singles matches in the earlier evening started with the showdown between one of the three Malaysian men remaining in the draw, Sairul Amar Ayob and the veteran Korean, Shon Seung Mo. Sairul Amar’s arrival in the stadium brought loud cheers from the spectators. The first game between the two was a game of stamina. The Korean erased Sairul’s early lead and the two were neck-and-neck until 20-all when Shon ended it by taking two straight points. Shortly after that, Sairul Amar managed to show the Korean some skills by winning the second game 21-5. However, the determined Korean, who had made his way through from the qualifying round, finally ended the rubber game 21-17 and sent the Malaysian off the Malaysian Open 2008 track.

The match between the two Indonesians, sixth-seeded Taufik Hidayat and youngster Simon Santoso started with the cheers of the Indonesian fans. The spectators crowded to the seats just beside the court they were playing in and started to cheer as if it were the finals. Santoso (pictured here) sent his elder compatriot off in just two games 21-18, 21-16 in 40 minutes. Next was the Malaysian top singles hopeful Lee Chong Wei’s match against Poland’s Wacha. Lee won the first game 21-5 without having to do much. Later on, Wacha turned the tables and took the second game 21-15. Just as the Malaysian fans started to worry that this VIP of Malaysian badminton would not make it, Lee hurried and ended the match much as it had begun, with a convincing 21-8 score in the short, deciding game. Lee Chong Wei’s victory got the national supporters all pumped up and earned by far the loudest cheer of the early evening.