If there were
a lot of qualifying matches yesterday, then as the saying goes,
'you ain't seen nothing yet'.
Round one features 16 matches in each of the five events, with
the first matches due on at 10.00, the last at 21.35, and
wall-to-wall world class Badminton in between.
There were five significant upsets and significant British wins
too, read on for full details ...
Taufik overcome a
dodgy start
and doubtful decision ... Richard Eaton
Former
Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat had to survive a first
game setback and a final game altercation before making a
winning start to his bid to win the 100th All-England Open.
Taufik allowed himself to be outplayed early on, and became
quite upset by a line decision when it seemed he was charging to
victory, before winning 17-21, 21-11, 21-12 against Hu Yun, the
world number 28 from Korea.
Surprisingly the fourth-seeded Indonesian has yet to win the
world's oldest title, despite having reached the first of his
two finals fully eleven years ago. But once he got into his
stride he still looked capable of rectifying that, well into his
30th year.
"Happy but it is a little to early to tell how I'm playing,�
Taufik said. "I made too many mistakes in the first set, but
played much better in the second and third."
Taufik did that by improving his focus, raising the speed of the
rallies, and cutting
out the few net shot mistakes which contributed to his letting a
first set lead of 12-8 slip away.
It had an immediate impact. Hu had contained well and threatened
with sudden attacks, most effectively to the body, but from
early in the second game he was usuall under pressure.
Taufik
raced to leads of 6-1, 10-6, and 15-8, and at the end of the
game Hu's body language hinted that his chances of getting back
into the match were not great.
Sure enough Taufik went to 7-1 and 12-2 in the third game, but
amazingly had an angry blip which briefly allowed his mobile
young opponent a sight of recovery. It happened when Hu got back
to 8-14 with a smash which landed near the backhand sideline.
Taufik was sure it was out, but the line judge called it in, and
the Indonesian responded acrimoniously.
He
stared at the line judge, walked around in circles, sat on his
haunches at the net, and complained to the umpire. But there was
no way he could over-rule on the far line.
It helped Hu make a further push, and he reached 11-15. But then
Taufik found a brilliant disguised net shot return of serve
which left his opponent stranded, and from that moment his
momentum was restored.
"I know it is very difficult to get this title, having been a
finalist in the past," Taufik concluded. "But I am going to try
very hard this year. I have been training harder and obviously I
would love to win it in this special year, the 100th year."
He next plays the winner of Andrew Smith of England and Eric
Pang of The Netherlands, with the possibility of meeting Peter
Gade, the former All-England champion from Denmark, in the
quarter-finals.
Early Roundup
Late on last night and first on this morning, the first home
players Mariana Agathangelou & Heather Olver couldn't get past
Dutch pair Judith Meulendijks & Jie Yao, losing in
straight games.
No upsets in the first batch of singles matches, with Zhou
Mi, Wang Chen and third seed JiangYangjiao
all coming throuygh in the women's while Malaysia's Tauifik
Hidayat was the first men's seed through despite dropping
the first game against Yun Hu of Hong Kong.
Men's top seed Lee Chong Wei was untroubled as he eased past
India's Chetan Anand 21-15, 21-16, but Jan Jorgensen was the
first seed to go out, the eighth-ranked Dane falling to China's
Chen Long.
Jenny and Gabby in another
All-England thriller Richard Eaton
Jenny Wallwork and Gabby White, who made an international
breakthrough at last year's All-England, raised hopes of another
good run in the women's doubles by coming from behind to win a
thriller.
Wallwork
and White produced the home country's best moments as they
reached the quarter-finals last year, and now they came from
10-12 down in the final game to overcome two rising Koreans.
Once again they showed their fighting qualities and also imposed
a preference for taking the initiative in the long rallies as
they overcame Jung Ye Na and Yoo Hyun-Young, ranked 32 in the
world, by 16-21, 21-17, 21-18.
Jung and Yoo, good in defence, consistent, and very fit, looked
as though they might have made a match-winning push when they
took seven points out of eight in the final game to take a
two-point lead.
It was then that character as much as skill played a part.
Wallwork described it as increased intensity. "We are a
pair who always believe we can win, we always stick in there and
scrap and it was just a case of stepping it up in here because
it is so slow," she said.
�We are quite a powerful pair so once we kind of got into our
rhythm it helped a lot and as soon as we start shouting and
getting up for it the momentum goes with us." That enabled them
to move from 12-13 to 17-13, looking to get the shuttle down
even though the slowish conditions made that hard, and to
generate extra adrenalin as the end came in sight.
The
Koreans were still not done, though, and had the home crowd
wriggling in their seats as they got back to 17-18 and 18-19.
But the English pair were tough and a little more positive than
their opponents in a tight finish. "We are always pumped when we
play as a pair but the crowd definitely helped,� said Wallwork.
�We love playing here and last year gave us confidence to go on
and hopefully do the same this year."
White agreed. "We definitely want to do as well as last year, we
love this tournament and the atmosphere is so good - having the
home crowd behind you. Our next round opponents are definitely
within our reach so hopefully we'll go through," she added.
The Leeds pair had to wait several hours though, before learning
whether they would play the Australian qualifiers Tang He Tian
and Renuga Veeran, or the number six seeds, Miyuki Maeda and
Satoko Suetsana, the Japanese pair who caused a sensation by
reaching the semi-finals of the Beijing Olympics.
Later there was another fine English doubles success when
Nathan Robertson and Anthony Clark also survived a difficult
first round.
They beat Tony Gunawan and Howard Bach, the tenth ranked pair
who had been the first world champions ever to represent the
United States when they won the men's doubles title in Anaheim,
California in 2005.
But although Robertson and Clark looked in good shape in their
21-16, 21-15 win, they may have to play at an even higher level
in the second round when they face Guo Zhendong and Xu Chen, the
seventh seeds from China.
Smith nearly quits � but wins instead ... Richard Eaton
Andrew
Smith almost decided to give the All-England a miss � but
instead produced a dazzling performance to earn himself a
meeting with one of the all time greats.
The former England number one has been suffering from a shin
injury for more than a month, and practised for the first time
in all that duration only on Monday.
�I thought I'd see how I was,� Smith said. �I wasn't really sure
that I would play. I certainly didn't think that I would win.�
Not only did he win, he won well. And his 21-10, 21-11 success
against Eric Pang of The Netherlands means he will have a second
round with Taufik Hidayat, the former Olympic and World champion
whose aim is to capture the All-England title which has somehow
always eluded him.
Pang is ranked only one place lower than Smith at world number
27, but the Hampshire man made it look as though they were a
couple of dozen rungs apart, masking the direction of his
overhead drops superbly, getting smashes on to the floor, and
combining focus with relaxation all through.
Relaxation
may have been the key. �It certainly took the pressure off,�
Smith agreed. �I had hardly done a thing since the national
championships (in February).
�I literally came here on the basis of having a hit, and to see
if I could play. I didn't know how I would react. It was okay,
but I had no expectations. It helps to be relaxed, so maybe I
should have four weeks off more often.�
Once again Smith repeated his allegation that he had been forced
to play in the English national championships, claiming that he
had felt the same stress injury then.
�I was entered without my knowledge and I was told I would be
disciplined if I didn't play,� he alleged, though he agreed that
he had not had a scan on the ailment before competing in
Manchester.
�I
have never forced players to play when they are injured,� said
Ian Moss, England's performance director. �I am not an ogre.�
There were three good British singles wins altogether, all
bringing the reward of encounters tomorrow against famous
opponents.
Smith's England team mate, Rajiv Ouseph, calmly and
smoothly beat the Frenchman Lo Ying Ping, the world number 38,
by 21-17, 21-19 to earn a meeting with Chen Jin, the 2008
champion from China.
Earlier there was an even better win for Scotland's Susan
Egelstaff, whose 21-9, 21-19 win over Sayaka Sato, the world
number 26 from Japan, gained her victory over a player ranked
six places higher and a meeting with Lu Lan, China's world
champion.
Five surprises and a
near miss Richard Eaton
Wang
Lin, the world number two from China, and Pi Hongyan,
the China-born fourth seed from France, became the first major
casualties at the All-England Open when both went out in the
first round of the 100^th tournament.
Wang led 12-8 and 13-10 in the final game against Eriko
Hirose, the world number 17 from Japan, but still went down
10-21, 21-16, 21-18 to an opponent who impressively combined
patience with aggression and fearlessness.
Pi also looked on course when she snatched the first game but
eventually became the victim of a successful revenge bid when
she was beaten 21-23, 21-10, 21-15 by Juliane Schenk, the
world number 11 from Germany.
This
was player whom she had narrowly denied the bronze medal at the
world championships in Hyderabad in August.
Wang displayed a range of emotions as she let her leads slip
away � irritation, frustration, and anxiety, swivelling her
body, swiping her racket, and averting her gaze from her
mistakes.
�It was my own problem because I wasn't focussed enough,� she
admitted afterwards. I was thinking too much and worrying.
�And I wasn't playing precisely enough,� Wang added, though she
declined to make an excuse of the large drift which dragged
several shots on important points unexpectedly wide.
Earlier
Pi also grew frustrated in defeat, which she attributed both to
Schenk's tactical excellence and greater mobility and to her own
shortcomings.
�I didn't know what to do,� Pi said, and then slightly
contradicted herself. �I knew what I should be doing, but when
it came to doing it I couldn't.�
What she meant was that she could not find a way to put the
shuttle away, and she was unable to get
She had some excuses � she had had a knee injury and was short
of training and had also had a stomach upset � but she didn't
want to use them as explanations.
Instead she praised Schenk. �Juliane kept playing the shuttle
right into the middle, but not with any pressure� she said.
�That meant I couldn't counter-attack. I was left to force the
game and I couldn't. And when I got frustrated I couldn't take
the right options.�
Two
seeds went out in the men's singles as well � Tien Minh
Nguyen, the number seven from Vietnam, and Jan Jorgensen,
the number eight from Denmark.
Nguyen was well beaten, 21-10, 21-17 by Kenichi Tago, the
young Japanese player who again suggested by the quality of his
game that he is about to push his way up the top 20.
Jorgensen was beaten just as heavily, 21-16, 21-10, by Chen
Long, the brilliant Chinese player who beat Tago in the 2007
world junior final.
Jorgensen was so upset by his performance that he did not appear
for a press conference, but later admitted that he was surprised
by the emotions in his performance.
�Normally when I am not doing well I get angry and thrash my
racket about,� he said. �But this time I didn't and that was
strange. I just don't know why I was so calm.�
There was
nearly an even bigger upset when Chen Jin, the
third-seeded Chinese player who was the 2008 All-England
champion, had to save a match point to get through his first
round match.
Chen
survived 21-16, 19-21, 22-20 against Dionysus Hayom Rumbaka,
a young Indonesian outside the top 20, but only after his
opponent missed a chance to make a kill at the net at 20-19,
match point up.
Chen knew he had put the shuttle just a couple of inches too
high, but Rumbaka snatched at the chance and netted it, with the
former champion raising his arms in alarm and relief at the
error.
�I've
not played for a long time, so it takes a while to get back into
the swing,� said Chen. �But my opponent played very well.
�I hadn't played him before either, so it felt even more
unfamiliar. I think I only survived because I have more
experience.
Earlier the top seeds in the men's doubles, Koo Kien Keat and
Tan Boon Heong, were beaten in the first round � though it
was not quite as big a surprise as it sounds.
The 2007 All-England champions from Malaysia were saddled with
one of the worst first round draws in the history of the event,
against Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen, the former world
champions from Denmark.
Koo and Tan were also unfortunate to find the Danes in great
form in the cool, slow conditions, their 21-13, 21-11 triumph
suggesting they may well be good enough to mount a challenge for
the title.
Wang
Lin, the world number two from China, and Pi Hongyan,
the China-born fourth seed from France, became the first major
casualties at the All-England Open when both went out in the
first round of the 100^th tournament.
This
was player whom she had narrowly denied the bronze medal at the
world championships in Hyderabad in August.
