Saina enters round two; Li stumbles

Tarun-Ashwini bow out in mixed doubles first round

Second seed Saina Nehwal overcame a stiff challenge from Thailand’s Sapsiree Taerattanachai to enter the second round of the All England badminton championship on a day when the tournament lost its top seed in a stunning upset.

Saina defeated Sapsiree 21-8, 18-21, 21-16 in a match that lasted 53 minutes.
The Indian champion looked to be cruising at one point but was caught napping in the second game when the Thai girl surged ahead to take the match into the decider. But Saina wrested control in the third game and stayed ahead to move into the second round.

Earlier in the day, Li Xuerui, the Olympic champion as well as the defending champion, failed to cross the first hurdle. China’s Li, widely regarded as the sport's outstanding woman player after her triumph at the London Games seven months ago, went down 18-21, 18-21 to Bae Yeon Ju, the world number 13 from South Korea.

The Chinese player did not blame either the wind drift or having to face such a high quality opponent in the first round for her defeat.

"It was personal performance issues, too many mistakes, nothing else," she said.
Later, two other Chinese seeds were beaten in the first round, both in the men's singles.  The most surprising was the defeat of the men’s third-seeded Du Pengyu, the runner-up in the World Super Series finals, who went down 17-21, 21-15, 18-21 to Chou Tien Chen, the world number 28 from Taiwan.

Earlier Hu Yun, the sixth seed, also failed to survive a long match, leading 19-17 in the final game and still losing 16-21, 21-11, 21-23 to Tanongsak Saensomboonsak, a qualifier from Thailand.

Indonesian Taufiq Hidayat suffered a shock defeat in the first round, losing to Sho Sasaki of Japan 16-21, 11-21.

Tarun-Ashwini exit

The Indian pair of Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponnappa crashed out in the mixed doubles first round, losing to Indonesia’s Fran Kurniawan and Shendy Puspa Irawati 18-21,  10-21.

Akshay Dewalkar and Pradnya Gadre too failed to cross the first hurdle, losing 8-21, 13-21 to Malaysian combo Jian Guo Ong and Yin Loo Lim.


Results (first round, prefix denote seedings):

Men: 2-Chen Long (Chn) bt Boonsak Ponsana (Tha) 18-21, 21-10, 21-15; Jan Jorgensen (Den) bt Chong Wei Feng (Mas) 21-11, 21-14; Chou Tien Chen (Tpe) bt 3-Du Pengyu (Chn) 21-17, 15-21, 21-18; Tien Minh Nguyen (Vie) bt Tan Chun Seang (Mas) 21-12, 15-21, 21-15; Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (Tha) bt Hu Yun (Chn) 21-16, 11-21, 23-21; Sho Sasaki (Jpn) bt Taufik Hidayat (Ina) 21-16, 21-11; 5-Jin Chen (Chn) bt Daren Liew (Mal)  21-15, 19-21, 21-11; 8-Tien Minh Nguyen (Vie) bt Chun Seang Tan (Mal) 21-12, 15-21, 21-15; Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (Tha) bt 6-Yun Hu (Vie) 21-16, 11-21, 23-21; Sho Sasaki (Jpn) bt Taufik Hidayat (Ina) 21-16, 21-11.

Doubles: 1-Mathias Boe/ Carsten Mogensen (Den) bt Angga Pratama/ Ryan Agung Saputra (Ina) 21-18, 21-19; 2-Kien Keat Koo/ Boon Heong Tan (Mal) bt Chris Adcock/ Andrew Ellis (Eng) 21-19, 24-22. 

Women: Bae Yeon Ju (Kor) bt 1-Li Xuerui (Chn) 21-18, 21-18; Pai Hsiao Ma (Tpe) bt Chan Tsz Ka (Hkg) 21-10, 21-9. Doubles: 1-Xiaoli Wang/ Yang (F) Yu (Chn) bt Hui Ern Ng/ Hui Lin Ng (Mal) 21-15, 21-16; 4-Hye Won Eom/ Ye Na Jang (Kor) bt Nicole Grether/ Charmaine Reid (Can) 21-9, 21-12.

Mixed doubles: Fran Kurniawan/ Shendy Puspa Irawati (Ina) bt Tarun Kona/ Ashwini Ponnappa (Ind) 21-18, 21-10.