Taiwan’s Hsieh Yu-hsing gave Taufik Hidayat, a former winner of the World and Olympic titles, a scare at the badminton World Championships yesterday.
The fifth-seeded Indonesian had to dig deep in the second game before earning a 19-21, 21-19, 21-19 victory against the world No. 24.
“I felt under pressure after the first set but then felt I found my rhythm,” Taufik said. “But the guy scared me when it was 19-14 and he came back to 19-all.”
PHOTO: EPA
“I knew I had to win this somehow, and once I had got the second I felt I had broken the resistance of my opponent,” he said.
With Simon Santoso, the eighth seed, withdrawing with a bad back and giving a walk-over to another Taiwanese player, Hsueh Hsuan-yi, it left Hidayat as the only Indonesian men’s singles player left. Earlier Sony dwi Kuncoro had also pulled out with an injury.
Lin Dan, bidding to become the first player ever to win four world singles titles, moved smoothly into the last 16 with another masterfully taken win.
The man regarded by many as the greatest of all time was able to play at cruising pace and then move through the gears as he overcame Henri Hurskainen, the world No. 49 from Sweden, 21-13, 21-15.
Lin was able to give himself court time by coaxing the shuttle around and develop his ability to control it in difficult, fast conditions — yet still grab quick points when he wanted to.
When Hurskainen displayed several different attacking options to recover from a three-point deficit to 15-15 in the second game, Lin fashioned a long, lung-testing rally in which he moved his opponent all round the court.
That had the desired effect of draining the spirited Hurskainen’s resources, enabling Lin to take six successive points and the match.
“It was not an easy match because I had never met him before, and I didn’t know what his level was,” Lin said. “After winning the first game I lost my patience a little in the second.”
Hurskainen had a different view.
“I was happy with the way I played and yet I always felt like I was a step behind,” he said. “He has to be the greatest player of all time.”
Later there was a surprise, when Kenichi Tago, who became the first Japanese men’s singles player to reach an All-England final in almost half a century, was beaten.
The 12th seed was unable to control the shuttle well enough on the big points at the end of each game and went down 22-20, 21-19 to the improving world No. 29 from Thailand, Tanongsak Saensomboonsak.
For a while it seemed there might be an even bigger surprise in the women’s singles, when Saina Nehwal, the second-seeded Indian, struggled in her opening encounter.
“I hadn’t played a tournament for seven weeks, and as it was also the world championships I was more nervous than usual,” Nehwal admitted after her 20-22, 21-15, 21-8 win over Chen Hsiao-huan of Taiwan.
“I was expecting a fight because last time we played it was a good match, and it was a struggle. I was leading in the first game and I lost it, so that was a disappointment,” she said. “But it was better in the second and third games — I felt she was tiring and I was good. But it was a little bit tough.”
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